Massachusetts officials are asking the United States Navy for help in retrieving equipment from the site where a fishing vessel went down in January, leaving all seven crew members dead.
In a letter to the secretary of the Navy, Gov. Maura Healey (D) and State Sen. Bruce Tarr (R) asked for assistance in recovering a video recorder and hard drive from the site where the Lily Jean went down, an incident for which investigators are still trying to find answers, Fox News reported Saturday.
In a statement to the outlet, the governor’s office said, “Governor Healey is requesting the Navy retrieve a piece of equipment on board that could provide critical information into what caused the ship to sink. She has also requested that the Navy assess the feasibility of recovering the remains of lost crew members, in keeping with the wishes of each family.”
The fishing community of Gloucester has been grieving the loss of those who died when the vessel sank as it was returning to shore with seven people onboard, Breitbart News reported January 31.
A few days after the Lily Jean went down, search crews found a debris field, recovered one body, and also recovered an empty life raft from the area, per WJAR:
At the time, Tarr said, “Every day, men and women leave ports like Gloucester to harvest the bounty of the ocean for the people of our state and our nation, carrying with them the very real risk of not returning home. The sinking of the F/V Lily Jean makes the consequences of that risk painfully real.”
Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board and the U.S. Coast Guard are taking part in the investigation.
State officials are asking the Navy to use a robotic submarine to retrieve the equipment, and the company that installed it believes there is still retrievable video that might provide more answers, according to WCVB.
Footage showed the Navy using its submarine in another mission:
A Navy spokesperson told WCVB, “The Office of the Secretary of the Navy is in receipt of the correspondence. A response is being prepared and will be transmitted directly to the Governor’s office.”
The body of the vessel’s captain, Accursio “Gus” Sanfilippo, was recovered, but the bodies of the others onboard, Freeman Short, Paul Beal Sr., Paul Beal Jr., John Rousanidis, Sean Therrien, and Jada Samitt, have yet to be found.
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