As of: March 28, 2024, 6:51 a.m
By: Romina Kunze, Julian Mayr
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A cargo ship collided with a pillar of a bridge in Baltimore, causing it to collapse. Experts speculate about the cause of the wrong price.
Update from March 28th, 6:25 a.m.:
The “Dali” black box has now been read. And the data shows: The ship sounded the alarm via radio and asked for help from a tugboat a few minutes before it crashed into the Key Bridge. The records also confirm that the crew reported a power outage.
Federal officials presented the evaluations at a press conference on Wednesday. At this point, the operation in Baltimore had already been declared a pure recovery mission. For those people who are still missing in the cold water, there is no longer any chance of survival. Rescue teams recovered two bodies on Wednesday.
Current status of the investigation into the Baltimore accident: Jennifer Homendy (center), chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), speaks at a press conference with lead investigator Marcel Muise (left) and NTSB member Alvin Brown (right). © Jasper Colt/Imago
Was contaminated diesel the cause of the shipwreck in Baltimore?
Update from March 27th, 9:40 a.m.:
The search for the cause of the fatal collision of a cargo ship with a bridge in Baltimore continues. As the
Wall Street Journal
writes, contaminated diesel could have caused the freighter to lose control.
The ship's engines "coughed" and suddenly "stopped" shortly before the collision, a crew member told the US newspaper. “The electronic systems are down and we have lost the ability to steer,” the person continued.
The Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed after the collision with the "Dali". © Jerry Jackson/Imago
The freighter was being filled with fuel when it stopped in the port of Baltimore before the collision occurred as it was leaving the port. There is currently no official confirmation of a possible cause. At the moment no investigation can be carried out on the ship, which is still wedged between the bridge pillar.
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First report from March 26th, 3:27 p.m.:
Baltimore - The huge cargo ship is slowly approaching the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore (USA). But instead of sailing between the pillars, the container ship flying the Singaporean flag sets course for one of the supports. Video footage shows how the bridge collapses within a short time after the collision with the ship. How could the collision happen? Experts comment on possible causes of the accident.
Ship collision leads to bridge collapse in Baltimore: various assumptions about the cause of the accident
While the rescue operation is underway on site and new updates on the serious bridge collapse are emerging almost every minute, there is already numerous speculation as to what could be responsible for the ship's collision with the bridge. Did human error or a technical failure lead to the accident? Was the ship's unusual course towards the bridge pier perhaps intentional? A variety of assumptions are circulating on the Internet.
However, it is considered unlikely that this was intentional misconduct or even an attack. As the US Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, announced via X, there is “no indication that this was an intentional act.”
At
Sky News
, David McFarlane, an expert in maritime safety, believes that a failure of the ship's engines is plausible. “The most likely cause is a failure of the engines or the steering system, but we will only know that once the authorities are on board,” the expert is certain. According to McFarlane, human error was less likely because several people were on duty and the crew should have noticed the errors.
Multiple power outages on cargo ship before impact
Video footage from Reuters journalist Matthew Keys also suggests that a technical failure may have been the trigger for the disaster. As pictures shared on X show, the power on the cargo ship apparently went out several times shortly before the crash. According to Keys, this has also been officially confirmed.
The video shows the lights flickering twice - apparently brief power outages. Then black clouds of smoke rise from the ship. The power supply was probably restored shortly before the impact. But at that point an impact already seems unavoidable.
According to ABC News
, a report from the US intelligence agency CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) said
that the container ship Dali "lost propulsion" as it left port and Maryland authorities were warned by the crew of a possible collision .
According to the US minister, the accident was “not an intentional act” – but human error cannot be ruled out
Even if technical failure during the voyage could ultimately have led to the collision, human error before the start of the voyage could still have played a role: “Before a ship sets sail, we have to check all the elements of the ship,”
BBC
quoted a Singapore-based shipping expert as saying anonymously want to stay. According to the expert, if the crew had completed the checklist for departure, then something had obviously been overlooked.
Bridge collapse not first incident involving cargo ship - latest investigation revealed no defects
As
CNN
reported, the cargo ship “Dali” was said to have been involved in an accident in the port of Antwerp in Belgium in 2016. The port authority also confirmed this to the US broadcaster when asked. Apparently no one was injured at the time, only parts of the hull were said to have been damaged.
According to CNN,
the “Dali” was last inspected
on September 9, 2023. At that time, the US Coast Guard found no defects. Just a few months earlier, however, Chilean authorities had confirmed that the ship had, among other things, defects in the main and auxiliary engines, reports the US broadcaster.
While only further investigations will be able to draw a complete picture of what happened in the accident, a diligent search is currently underway in Baltimore for survivors of the bridge collapse. However, time is running out for the missing people; they can only survive for a few hours in the cold water of the Patapsco River.