NTSB: Ship that crashed into Baltimore bridge lost power twice before leaving port

Salvors with the Unified Command perform a controlled demolition, precision cutting of section 4 of the Francis Scott Key Bridge that sits on the port side of the bow of the M/V DALI. The controlled demolition on Monday finally freed the container ship, which had been trapped in the wreckage since the fatal collision in March. Photo by Christopher Rosario/U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/UPI | License Photo

May 14 (UPI) — The container ship that toppled the Francis Scott Key Bridge in March lost power twice before it left port in the hours before the collapse, the National Transportation Safety Board revealed Tuesday.

The NTSB report released Tuesday offered the first official account of the events leading up to the disaster.

The Dali container ship reportedly experienced a blackout during maintenance 10 hours before leaving port. A crew member accidentally closed an inline engine exhaust damper, blocking the engines exhaust and causing the engine to stall, according to the report.

The ship’s crew restored power by manually closing the breakers, but the ship lost power again due to insufficient fuel pressure in one of the generators. The crew then restarted the generator by reopening the exhaust damper.

The connection between the earlier blackouts and the one that was seen before the deadly collision remains under investigation, the NTSB said.

The NTSB said it is investigating other possible factors in the crash, such as the design and operation of the Dali’s power distribution system, including the breakers. Tests of the Dali’s fuel did not reveal any issues.

Just before leaving port at 12:36 a.m. EDT, the Dali’s captain warned a local pilot assigned to guide the ship out of the harbor that it was experiencing issues, according to the report.

Two tug boats assisted the Dali as it moved into the harbor and detached from the ship about nine minutes later. The Dali then was navigating the channel under its own power.

The ship reportedly lost power again at 1:25 a.m. after two electrical breakers that supplied most of the ship’s power tripped. The ship at that moment was just over a half-mile away from the bridge, according to the report.

The crew restored power to the Dali via an emergency generator, but the final blackout occurred when the ship was less than a quarter-mile from the bridge, the report stated.

One of the pilots on board had alerted a dispatcher on shore that the ship was losing power, and the dispatcher notified police, who then ordered the bridge to be closed to traffic.

The crew dropped anchor in a final attempt to avoid collision, but by then it was too late. The Dali struck the bridge, causing it to collapse into the Patapsco River in just seconds.

Eight maintenance workers who were on the bridge fell into the river. Two of them survived, and the other six were found dead during a weekslong search.

The city of Baltimore in April sued the Dali’s owner, Grace Ocean Private Ltd., and its manager, Synergy Marine Pte Ltd., alleging the companies were negligent and should be held fully liable for the collapse.

The Dali was finally freed of the wreckage Monday by precision explosives that dismantled the span of bridge that fell on top of the container ship.

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