Hearing Shares Calls For Help From El Faro's Captain
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- As part of the US Coast Guard investigation into the El Faro ship tragedy, audio was played Saturday of the ship's captain calling for help before it sank, killing everyone on board last October 1.
Amy Yensi has the story.
El Faro's captain made one last call for help before the ship sank. In that call, he warned that time was running out.
Captain Michael Davidson made the first call for help when water started seeping into three holes in the El Faro near the eye of Hurricane Joaquin. The Totes Services operator didn't answer, so he left a message.
"We have a navigational incident. Everybody's safe but I want to tell you," he said.
Davidson then called the company's emergency call center to speak with a qualified individual, or QI. The operator seemed to not get the urgency.
"Okay, sir, I just need your name, please," the operator said.
"Yes, ma'am. My name is Michael Davidson."
"Ship's name?"
"El Faro."
"Spell that."
"E-L...oh, man, the clock is ticking. Can I please speak with a QI?"
Another operator came on the line.
"Just really briefly, what is the problem you're having?"
"I have a marine emergency and I would like to speak to a QI. We lost the main propulsion unit. The engineers cannot get it going."
On Saturday, officials of US Coast Guard Marine Board heard the distressing calls made before the ship sank near the Bahamas last October 1, killing all 33 crew members. One of them was Baltimore County native Frank Hamm.
In one call, Captain Davidson told John Lawrence, the manager on call in Jacksonville, that nobody is panicking. Minutes later, the Coast Guard told Lawrence there's no need for a rescue mission.
"Um, so right now, based off all the information that you've provided me, you know, I'm not in the distress phase currently because they're not at risk of sinking," an official said.
Investigators hope to get more answers from the ship's data recorder or black box.
The Coast Guard is expected to release a report of the findings after the hearings.
The NTSB is launching another search mission for the ship's data recorder in April.
