The first underwater images and video of the El Faro cargo ship wreckage were released Sunday night, and the family of one of the mariners on board is reacting.
The National Transportation Safety Board has more than 45 minutes of video documenting the wreckage and debris.
Recommended Videos
The name “El Faro” is ripped apart on the side of the cargo ship—sitting 15,000 feet underwater in the Bahamas. This was the first look at the mangled ship that carried 33 crew members through the Atlantic.
The cargo ship went missing on Oct. 1 and was located on Oct. 31 near Crooked Island, Bahamas. Twenty-eight U.S. crew members and five Polish workers were on board the ship.
Pastor Robert Green gathered with his family to watch the video of where his 32-year-old son, LaShawn Rivera, took his last breath.
"I would say the emotions swayed from sheer sorrow to sheer horror and we were seeing what it must have been like aboard the ship," Green said. "Sometimes you think you’ve gotten to a certain point in the closure process and tonight we know that the pain is still there."
Green said it was hard for all the families to see the images of the ship after months of imagining what it looked like.
"Seeing the two upper decks literally sheared off the ship was pretty riveting, just showed the sheer force of the storm," Green said.
The family said they still want to find Rivera’s remains to bring him home. They have started a foundation called Mending Hearts for families who are looking for the same type of closure.