Congress Honors the 33 Lives Lost on El Faro

U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla., held a moment of silence on Friday to remember the 33 lives lost when the El Faro sunk in Hurricane Joaquin last week. 

The cargo vessel was headed from Jacksonville to Puerto Rico when it was sunk in Hurricane Joaquin with 33 lives lost. 

Crenshaw said the following on Friday:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the crew of the El Faro, the 790 foot container ship that recently perished in the Atlantic during Hurricane Joaquin.  We cannot know the heartache that their families and friends are facing in the midst of the unanswered questions surrounding this maritime disaster. In their time of need, we send them strong prayers of support to help ease their pain.

The 33 crew members aboard the vessel, 18 from Florida, 12 from my hometown of Jacksonville, 10 others from cities and towns across America, and five Polish nationals, all faced the toughest of odds from a Category 4 hurricane. These brave men and women include: Jacksonville residents Roosevelt Clark, Brookie Davis, Frank Hamm, Carey Hatch, Jack Jackson, Jackie Jones, Jr., Lonnie Jordan, Roan Lightfoot, James Porter, Theodore Quammie, Lashawn Rivera and Anthony Thomas. Florida residents Louis Champa of Palm Coast, Keith Griffin of Fort Myers, Joe Hargrove of Orange Park, Howard Schoenly of Cape Coral, German Solar-Cortes of Orlando and Mariette Wright of St. Augustine were also aboard. 

Sylvester Crawford Jr. of Lawrenceville, Georgia; Michael Davidson of Windham, Maine; Michael Holland of North Wilton, Maine; Mitchell Kuflik of Brooklyn, New York; Jeffrey Mathias of Kingston, Massachusetts; Dylan Meklin of Rockland, Maine; Richard Pusatere of Virginia Beach, Virginia; Danielle Randolph of Rockland, Massachusetts; Jeremie Riehm of Camden, Delaware;  and Steven Shultz of Roan Mountain, Tennessee are also mourned as are Piotr Krause, Marcin Nita, Jan Podgorski, Andrzej Truszkowski and Rafal Zdobych of Poland.

As we learn more about their lives we see the experience and professionalism they brought to their careers, their love of family and the hope they had for the future. May those closest to them take comfort from this diverse collection of stories.

We also take time to recognize the United States Coast Guard, United States Navy, United States Air Force and other maritime assets who combined forces in the search for the stricken ship and its members.  They are to be commended for their full commitment and dedication to that mission.     

As we move ahead, investigations are underway by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Coast Guard to determine what happened and how to prevent another such disaster from happening in the future. I have no doubt that those answers will come. In the meantime, America’s maritime community is a tight one and will rally around those who need it the most right now – the loved ones of the El Faro crew.  We stand with them, ready to meet their needs in whatever way we can, today and in all of the tomorrows.