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NTSB: Search crews locate data recorder for sunken cargo ship El Faro

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.-- Federal investigators say they have found the missing data recorder for thesunken cargo ship El Faro.

The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday said it had located the voyage data recorder, which may help investigators better understand the final moments of the ship's last journey during a hurricane.

The recorder has not been recovered though, it has just been located, CBS News' Kris Van Cleave reports. The team is working on determining the best plan for a recovery operation.

The type of data recorder mounted on El Faro is capable of recording conversations and sounds on the ship's navigation bridge, which could provide investigators with important evidence as they seek to understand the sequence of events that led to the sinking, the NTSB said in a statement.

They also released video of investigators finding the data recorder.

The 790-foot freighter sank last October after losing propulsion while traveling between Jacksonville and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The ship got caught in 155 mph winds and strong seas of Hurricane Joaquin. All 33 crew died.

The NTSB failed to find the data recorder in its first search of the wreckage, some 15,000 feet underwater near the Bahamas.

Key questions remain about routing decisions made by ship Capt. Michael Davidson that took the ship closer to the path of the storm.

Harrowing final words from doomed El Faro released 02:06

Investigators also want to know if a crew of five Polish engineers that were onboard to prepare the engines for the El Faro's upcoming retrofitting had any role in the ship's loss of power.

Davidson attempted to outrun the storm, but lost engine power and control of the ship.

The storm overtook the aged vessel; its remains were later discovered 15,000 feet deep in Atlantic waters. The ship's navigation tower had detached, and there was a breach in its hull.

El Faro was distinctive in a few ways; it served the U.S. military in the Iraq War, it was cut in half two decades ago and lengthened 90 feet, and it was 40 years old, an age when container ships are commonly sold for scrap. "60 Minutes" did a story on the El Faro in January.

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