Federal investigators say recovering the voyage data recorder from the sunken cargo ship El Faro will be a challenge.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board returned Thursday to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution from a mission to the wreck site at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, 40 miles off the Bahamas.
They say they found the recorder on April 26 in 15,000 feet of water on a beam attached to a mast, but were unable to recover it.
They photographed the area and say the recorder, which is built to withstand the water pressure, appears to be in good shape.
The 790-foot freighter sank last October during Hurricane Joaquin after losing propulsion while traveling between Jacksonville, Florida, and Puerto Rico. All 33 people on board died.
