3 more El Faro crewmember families settle with vessel owner

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Three more families of crewmembers lost when the freighter El Faro sank last year have reached financial settlements with the company that owned the vessel.

The Florida Times-Union reports (http://bit.ly/20TgWFR ) that papers filed in federal court on Tuesday show that representatives for crewmembers Frank Hamm III, James Phillip Porter Jr. and Roosevelt Lazarra Clark each settled for $500,000 with Tote Services, Inc.

The newspaper says settlements have now been reached in 21 out of the 33 mariners who died Oct. 1 when the ship lost propulsion and was caught in Hurricane Joaquin. The El Faro was travelling to San Juan, Puerto Rico, from Jacksonville.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the sinking, and is scheduled to attempt to retrieve the ship’s voyage data recorder sometime later this year.