Bridge of Sunken Ship El Faro Located: NTSB

U.S. transportation investigators have made a breakthrough in the search for clues as to why a cargo ship sunk in a storm off the coast of Florida last month.

The National Transportation Safety Board tweeted on Thursday that El Faro's bridge deck had been found, though the NTSB is still searching for the ship's vessel data recorder, according to the NTSB's tweet.

El Faro sunk in three miles of water in Hurricane Joaquin, going missing on Oct. 1 on a trip from Jacksonville, Florida, to Puerto Rico. All 33 of its crewmembers were lost. The wreckage was first located at the beginning of November.

The recorder, carried in the bridge's deck, should contain information shedding new light on the 790-foot ship's doomed voyage.

A submersible robot is being used to recover the data recorder, which is similar to the black box on a place, according to underwater wreckage expert David Gallo of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

"It's going to be difficult to get into that ship," he told The Associated Press last week. "They are going to have to find a way in, and if they can't find a way in they have the ability to cut their way in.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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