(RepublicanNews.org) – More information has emerged about the ship called the Dali that crashed into and destroyed a Baltimore bridge. The ship remains stuck after the March 26th incident which killed six people. Now, investigators are focusing on the alarms that sounded onboard before the crash.
The crash is still reported to be under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the FBI, although the FBI has refused to divulge any details thus far. The NTSB held a press conference on Wednesday, April 16th, and confirmed that the board had recovered six hours of black box audio records that stretched from midnight until 6 am on March 26th. The collision occurred at around 1:30 am, so it is hoped that the records will shed some light on the state of the ship before it crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
NTSB lead investigator for the incident, Marcel Muise, was able to confirm that alarms sounded on the nearly 950-foot-long vessel minutes at 1:24 am, just minutes before impact. Two minutes later, the ship’s captain began to issue mayday signals, before ordering the anchor to be dropped at 1:27 am. Transport staff were able to shut down traffic to the bridge thanks to the mayday signals, although eight construction workers who were already on the bridge were thrown into the water by the collision, only two of whom survived. Four bodies have been recovered from the river.
An anonymous report from a source close to the incident has said that in addition to the alarms that sounded minutes before impact, an alarm indicating an issue in the refrigerated container units had, in fact, sounded before the ship left the dock in the first place. The source claims that this alarm could have been indicative of an electrical fault on the ship and that the crew was aware of the problem, but continued in their plans to depart.
Maryland’s General Attorney Anthony Brown has suggested that it is likely he will file a lawsuit to recover costs for the state, and Baltimore’s Mayor Brandon Scott has also hinted at the possibility of seeking legal restitution over the catastrophe, although neither gave many details with the investigation as yet ongoing.
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