An improperly placed wire label caused a cargo ship to lose power and crash into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key bridge in 2024, the National Transportation Safety Board said.
Investigators from the NTSB told a public meeting Tuesday that the label applied to the metal connector of a wire when the container ship Dali was built a decade ago could have prevented a reliable connection and loss of power.
Video from the evening of March 26, 2024 show lights on the Maersk (MAERSK-B.CO) -chartered vessel going out as the Dali lost power and drifted out of control into the bridge’s pier, causing the collapse that killed six construction workers.
“The fact is, none of us should be here today,” Jennifer Homendy, chair of the NTSB, told the meeting. “This tragedy should have never occurred. Lives should have never been lost; as with all accidents that we investigate, this was preventable.”
The 947-foot Dali, registered in Singapore and operated by Synergy Marine Group, was headed for Sri Lanka at the time of the incident.
NTSB officials have yet to vote to finalize the cause of the crash.
Maryland officials on Monday said replacement of the bridge will take two years longer and cost more than double – from $4.3 billion to $5.2 billion – than original estimates.
Find more articles by Stuart Chirls here.
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