Family of Cape man settles with sunken ship’s owner

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) – Two more families of crew members who died on the freighter that sunk last year near the Bahamas during a hurricane have settled their wrongful-death lawsuits, including one from Southwest Florida.

The family of Steven Shultz of Cape Coral and Theodore Quammie of Jacksonville settled with Tote Services Inc. and Tote Maritime Puerto Rico, the owner and operator of El Faro, respectively, for $500,000 each plus an undisclosed sum for economic losses, The Florida Times-Union reports.

The 790-foot-long (240-meter-long) ship sank Oct. 1 after losing propulsion and getting caught in Hurricane Joaquin. All 33 aboard died, and all of their families filed claims. The number of settled cases now stands at 23.

Investigators are transcribing 26 hours of audio from the ship’s bridge after crews recovered El Faro’s data recorder.

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