The cargo ship Dali skilled electrical blackouts about 10 hours earlier than leaving the Port of Baltimore and but once more shortly earlier than it slammed into the Francis Key Bridge and killed six building staff, federal investigators stated Tuesday, offering essentially the most detailed account but of the tragedy.
The ability outage occurred after a crewmember mistakenly closed an exhaust damper, inflicting the ship’s engine to stall, investigators with the Nationwide Transportation Security Board stated of their preliminary report. Shortly after leaving Baltimore early on March 26, the ship crashed into one of many bridge’s supporting columns as a result of one other energy outage triggered it to lose steering and propulsion on the precise worst second.
The report gives new particulars about how the ship’s crew addressed the facility points it skilled whereas nonetheless docked in Baltimore. A full investigation might take a yr or extra, in line with the protection board.
Testing of the ship’s gas didn’t reveal any considerations associated to its high quality, in line with the report.
The Dali was headed from Baltimore to Sri Lanka, laden with delivery containers and sufficient provides for a monthlong voyage.
After the preliminary blackout attributable to the closed exhaust damper, investigators say a backup generator mechanically got here on. It continued to run for a brief interval—till inadequate gas strain triggered it to kick off once more, leading to a second blackout. That’s when crewmembers made adjustments to the ship’s electrical configuration, switching from one transformer and breaker system it had been utilizing for a number of months to a different that was in use upon its departure, in line with the report.
Investigators stopped wanting drawing a direct line between these earlier energy points and the blackout that finally triggered the bridge collapse.
“The NTSB remains to be investigating {the electrical} configuration following the primary in-port blackout and potential impacts on the occasions through the accident voyage,” investigators wrote.
The protection board launched its investigation nearly instantly after the collapse, which despatched six members of a roadwork crew plunging to their deaths. Investigators boarded the ship to doc the scene and accumulate proof, together with the vessel’s knowledge recorder and knowledge from its engine room, in line with board chair Jennifer Homendy. Investigators additionally interviewed the captain and crew members.
“Our mission is to find out why one thing occurred, the way it occurred and to forestall it from recurring,” Homendy stated at a information convention days after the catastrophe.
The preliminary report particulars the chaotic moments previous to the bridge collapse whereas crewmembers scrambled to deal with a sequence {of electrical} failures that got here in fast succession as catastrophe loomed.
At 1:25 a.m. on March 26, when the Dali was a little bit over half a mile away from the bridge, electrical breakers that fed a lot of the ship’s tools and lighting unexpectedly tripped, inflicting an influence loss. The primary propulsion diesel engine mechanically shut down after its cooling pumps misplaced energy, and the ship misplaced steering.
Crewmembers had been capable of momentarily restore electrical energy by manually closing the tripped breakers, the report says.
Round that point, the ship’s pilots known as for tugboats to come back assist information the wayward vessel. The tugboats that guided it out of the port had peeled off earlier per regular apply, in line with the report. Crewmembers additionally began the method of dropping anchor, and the pilots’ dispatcher known as the Maryland Transportation Authority Police and relayed that the ship had misplaced energy. The pilots’ dispatcher notified the Coast Guard.
The ship was lower than a quarter-mile from the bridge when it skilled a second energy blackout due to extra tripped breakers, in line with the report. The crew once more restored energy, however it was too late to keep away from placing the bridge.
One of many pilots ordered the rudder turned on the final minute, however for the reason that primary engine remained shut down, there was no propulsion to help with steering, the report says. In addition they made a mayday name that allowed police to cease site visitors to the bridge.
At 1:29 a.m., the 1.6-mile metal span got here crashing down into the Patapsco River. The employees had been sitting of their automobiles throughout a break when catastrophe struck.
The final of the victims’ our bodies was recovered final week.
One member of the seven-person crew survived the collapse by someway releasing himself from his work truck. He was rescued from the water later that morning. A street upkeep inspector additionally survived by operating to security within the moments earlier than the bridge fell.
On Monday, crews carried out a managed demolition to interrupt down the most important remaining span of the collapsed bridge, which landed draped throughout the Dali’s bow, pinning the grounded ship amid the wreckage. The broken ship is predicted to be refloated and guided again to the Port of Baltimore within the coming days.
It arrived within the U.S. from Singapore on March 19, every week earlier than the crash, in line with the report. It made stops in Newark, New Jersey, and Norfolk, Virginia, earlier than coming to Baltimore. Investigators stated they weren’t conscious of another energy outages occurring in these ports.
They stated they’re working with Hyundai, the producer of the ship’s electrical system, to “establish the trigger(s) of the breakers unexpectedly opening whereas approaching the Key Bridge and the following blackouts.”
The board’s preliminary report launched Tuesday seemingly features a fraction of the findings that will probably be introduced in its last report, which is predicted to take greater than a yr.
The FBI has additionally launched a felony investigation into the circumstances main as much as the collapse.
