Four more families of the deceased crew members aboard the ill-fated cargo ship El Faro have reached a settlement with the vessel’s owner TOTE Maritime, according to US district court documents.
The families settled with the sunken ship’s owner for USD 500,000 each in pre-death pain and suffering damages, as well as an undisclosed amount for economic and other losses.
The families in question were of Mariette Wright, Brookie Larry Davis, Jeffrey Mathias, and LaShawn Rivera.
This is the third settlement between the families of the El Faro victims and the ship’s owner.
In January, TOTE reached a settlement with ten families, while in March the company settled with four more families under the same terms.
The remaining 15 families still have claims pending in court.
The United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) launched its second search for El Faro’s vessel data recorder (VDR) on April 18, 2016, to locate the VDR and provide a more extensive and detailed survey of the shipwreck with the aim of using these to help investigators determine exactly why and how the ship sank.
El Faro was found in a water depth of 15,000 feet after it sailed into the Hurricane Joaquin and sank on October 1, 2015, taking 33 crew members with it.
The vessel’s crew, who consisted of 28 U.S. citizens and five Polish nationals, are presumed dead.
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