The container ship, called ‘Dali’, struck the Baltimore bridge in the early hours of the morning. Image source: Patorjk, via Wikimedia Commons
Baltimore Harbour’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapses after being struck by a malfunctioning container ship.
Just after midnight, the ship, called ‘Dali’, departed from Baltimore’s port, loaded with shipping containers and enroute to Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The ship is owned by Grace Ocean Private, Ltd, based in Singapore, and had been chartered by Danish shipping company Maersk. The ship was being operated by Synergy Group, which handles the technical management of over 600 vessels.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge was over 2.5 kilometres long and was one of three major river crossings at Baltimore harbour. It sat 56 metres above the water and was part of an interstate highway, with four lanes for traffic.
The ship appeared to undergo a power failure as it began to approach the bridge, with lights flickering and smoke beginning to rise from somewhere on the vessel.
The 22-man crew was able to issue a mayday call as it approached the bridge, warning the Maryland Department of Transportation that the ship was no longer under their control.
This allowed authorities to intercede and prevent traffic from going over the bridge. The ship was noted to have dropped anchor in an effort to avoid a collision.
Dali then crashed into a concrete pylon that was part of the bridge’s main foundation. Almost the entire structure crumpled and collapsed into the water and across the ship.
Dali measured at 289 metres, close to the length of six Olympic swimming pools, and could hold up to 10,000 shipping containers as cargo. At the time of the crash, it was reportedly carrying 4,679 containers.
The ship had been previously involved in an incident in 2016, where it hit a quay in Antwerp, Germany, when trying to exit the North Sea container terminal.
There were reportedly eight maintenance workers on the bridge at the time doing roadwork, quoted as “repairing potholes” by local transport department secretary Paul Wiedefeld.
Two were rescued after all eight fell into the water, one was reported as unharmed and the other was critically injured. Divers have recovered the remains of two of the missing workers from the Patapsco River. The other four workers are still missing and presumed dead
The water temperature at the time was recorded as 8° Celsius. Multiple vehicles also fell into the water and were later picked up by sonar, with Wiedefeld stating that it was not believed the submerged vehicles had anyone inside at the time of collapse.
Ship traffic has been suspended in Baltimore as search efforts are ongoing.
