JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A port engineer testified Friday that the captain of the El Faro wrote about Hurricane Joaquin in his daily report a day before the ship sank near the Bahamas last fall.
During the final day of a 10-day hearing before a U.S. Coast Guard panel, Tote Services Port Engineer Tim Neeson testified that captain Michael Davidson was aware of the storm, the Florida Times-Union reported.
El Faro sank in a hurricane Oct. 1 after losing propulsion near the Bahamas. All 33 crew members aboard, including Davidson and three others from Maine, died.
When asked about previous testimony concerning a wind-speed gauge that may not have been working, Neeson said that officials with Tote Services, the company that owned the El Faro, never interfered with necessary maintenance.
Coast Guard officials say a second hearing will be scheduled following an April expedition by the National Transportation Safety Board to find the ship’s data recorder.
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