Loose wire on ship may have led to Baltimore bridge collapse, report says
A loose wire on a cargo ship caused a power outage that may have led to the fatal collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in 2024, US investigators say.
The Dali container ship that crashed into the bridge and killed six workers was “preventable,” National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators said at a hearing Tuesday.
Police stationed at the ends of the bridge were informed that the ship was off course but did not call the construction team’s inspector to warn them.
The NTSB said the six workers may have had time to evacuate if police were notified.
“There was about a minute and 29 seconds for evacuation,” NTSB engineer Scott Parent said before the crash, according to the Washington Post.
That might be “enough time to get to a part of the bridge that hasn’t collapsed,” the official said.
In the dark of night on March 26, 2024, several vehicles on the Scott Key Bridge plunged into the icy waters of the Patapsco River in Baltimore, Maryland, after the Dali container ship struck one of its pillars. Six workers fell to their deaths.
Tuesday’s hearing revealed potential motives behind the deadly tragedy, as outlined in the NTSB’s year-long investigation.
The agency identified multiple factors, including loss of electrical power from a faulty cable, problems with the onboard fuel pump, and a lack of countermeasures to reduce the bridge’s vulnerability. The NTSB also reviewed its security recommendations.
The findings confirmed those in a 2024 NTSB preliminary report that cited faulty wiring as the likely cause of the power outage at Dali in the final moments before the crash.
NTSB Chairman Jennifer Homendy said at the hearing, “This tragedy should never have happened. Lives should never have been lost. As with all the crashes we investigate, it could have been prevented.” he said.
The deadly incident caused major damage as the major US shipping port of Baltimore was closed and part of a key interstate highway was cut.
Officials initially estimated repairs would be completed by 2028 and cost around $1.9bn (£1.4bn). But an update on Monday estimated the total cost of repairs would be close to $5 billion and moved the completion timeline to 2030.
“As families across the country grapple with the reality of rising costs, so does Maryland,” the state’s Democratic Gov. Wes Moore said Monday. he said.
“Trade policies outside of Washington DC have increased the prices of everything, including the basic materials we need to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
“Yet despite this new economic reality, our resolve is unwavering,” he said.
