El Faro Voyage Data Recorder has been found

A big step forward in the quest for answers on what contributed to the sinking of El Faro- the Voyage Data Recorder has been found.

A search was launched just over a week ago to try to locate the device, which is believed to contain navigational information and conversations from the bridge from before the ship went down in Hurricane Joaquin. While the ship's wreckage was found 15,000 feet underwater soon after the October sinking, the VDR was not initially found with it.

GALLERY: Photos of El Faro's wreckage

The NTSB confirms that this second search effort has located the device. It was next to the El Faro’s mast on the ocean floor, about 41 miles northeast of Acklins and Crooked Islands, Bahamas. The mast was located around 1AM Tuesday, and imagery from underwater search equipment was soon able to lead to a positive identification of the VDR.

It has not yet been recovered, but they are assessing how to do that at this time. Until the device is pulled up, investigators won’t know how much information will be able to be recovered.

VIDEO: El Faro VDR located on the ocean floor

The Coast Guard has now scheduled the second session of a Marine Board of Investigation which has been probing the sinking for May 16-27 in Jacksonville. While two sessions were initially scheduled, the Coast Guard has announced that a third session will take place at a later date and, during that time, they will go over any information from the VDR that can be recovered and analyzed.

CONTINUING COVERAGE: El Faro sinking

The first Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation session raised questions about the inspection protocol over El Faro and other commercial vessels, mechanical issues the crew may have been facing, and whether the black box was even able to alert to its location after the sinking. The second session will focus on ship board operations, cargo loading, lashing and stowage operations, and oversight of El Faro.

The end goal of these hearings is to determine what contributed to the sinking, any evidence of misconduct or inattention to duty, any indication any person or government agency contributed to the sinking, and ultimately how to prevent something like this from happening again.

AUDIO: Captain of El Faro reports "marine emergency"

TOTE issued a statement to WOKV thanking those involved for “their persistence and success” on this trip.

"We hope that the information contained will help with the goal to learn everything possible about the loss of our crew and vessel. We look forward to the NTSB report and welcome safety related recommendations that benefit our seafarers; there is no more important legacy for our employees and their families," the statement says.

33 people died in the sinking. El Faro was heavily loaded when it set out for a run between Jacksonville and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The NTSB says the ship had lost propulsion and had taken on water before encountering then-Category 4 Hurricane Joaquin.

The Coast Guard and NTSB will each issue their own independent reports on the sinking, although much of the investigation has been done cooperatively.

Florida Senator Bill Nelson- who pushed for the second search- praised the results.

“This could be a big break fore investigators as they try to understand what caused El Faro to sink. The information stored on this device could be the key to determining not only what happened, but also what can be done to ensure that it never happens again,” Nelson said in a statement.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio took to the Senate floor to thank those involved in the mission.

“That gives me hope that we will soon have more answers about this terrible disaster and how we can prevent a similar one from ever happening again. And so I wanted to thank the men and women of the investigative team who worked together to find this important piece of the El faro puzzle,” Rubio says.

This latest search mission is taking place with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which operates the research vessel Atlantis that is being used for the mission. The Atlantis is owned by the US Navy. The vessel will stay in the area through April 30^th documenting the wreckage. The autonomous underwater vehicle Sentry was used for this search.