Baltimore: The ship's captain “did all he could, dropped anchor, and ordered the bridge closed” but it was too late

Six people are presumed dead after the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed early Tuesday morning, March 26 (around 07:30 GMT), when the container-laden freighter Daly collided with one of the towers.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge served as an entrance to the Port of Baltimore, the busiest in the United States for automobile exports and the ninth busiest overall. The exact cause of the accident has not yet been determinedBut the ship appears to have lost consciousness and sent a distress signal before hitting the bridge.

Clay Diamond, executive director and general counsel of the Air Pilots Association of America, said the captain of the ship that struck a Baltimore bridge Tuesday morning, He did “what he could do.” To slow the ship and prevent it from drifting towards the bridge.

“A few minutes before the bridge, a complete power outage occurred on the ship, meaning the ship lost engine power and electricity. It was a complete blackoutDiamond, who has been in close contact with the Maryland Pilots Association since the bridge collapse, told CNN. Although the lights were restored using an emergency generator that was activated after the initial power outage, The ship's engine never recovered.

According to Diamond, the ship's captain gave a series of appropriate commands, requesting a hard helm to the left and dropping anchor in order to stop the massive container ship's course. He was also the one who called for the suspension of traffic on the bridge When he realized the threat. He added, “All of these were appropriate steps, but they happened very quickly and in a very short time (…) None of these maneuvers were sufficient“, male.

The Dal freighter was briefly detained in Chile last year, due to a propulsion problem

Singapore-flagged cargo ship Dali, He was briefly arrested in Chile last June For the propulsion problem, the Chilean Navy told CNN. An inspector found the ship's heating system pressure gauges to be “unreadable” and it was detained at the Port of San Antonio on June 27, 2023, a Navy spokesman said Tuesday night (3/26).

The spokesman said: “The port state inspector gave a deadline to resolve the defect before the ship sailed, and this was completed and verified on site by the inspector on the same day.” It was held in Chile's largest port, which classified the ship's shortage as related to “propulsion devices and auxiliary machinery.”

This was not the first time that Al-Dali was detained in a foreign port.

The container ship has been inspected 27 times since its construction in 2015, and has had two “defects” since then, according to records from the Electronic Shipping Quality Information System (Equasis). Port officials confirmed to CNN that Daly was involved in an incident in 2016 at the Port of Antwerp.

The Maritime and Ports Authority of Singapore, whose flag the Daly was flying, said the ship's certificates covering its structural integrity and the operation of its equipment were valid. It also said the ship underwent two separate inspections in June and September 2023.