In this aerial image released by the Maryland National Guard, the cargo ship Dali is trapped under part of the structure of the Francis Scott Key Bridge after the ship crashed into the bridge, March 26, 2024, in Baltimore.
AP/Maryland National Guard
hide caption
convert caption
AP/Maryland National Guard
BALTIMORE — Investigators are working to determine what caused a shooting in Baltimore. Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapsed A loose cable was discovered to have caused an electrical fault on the Dali, the giant cargo ship lost power and veered off course catastrophically before crashing into the bridge.
When disconnected, the faulty cable caused a power outage on the ship similar to what happened as the ship approached the pier on March 26, according to new documents released by the National Transportation Safety Board on Wednesday.
The documents do not include any analysis or conclusions, which will be released later in the council’s final report. A council spokesman declined to comment because the investigation is ongoing.
The Dali was leaving Baltimore bound for Sri Lanka when its steering system failed due to a power failure. It crashed into one of the bridge’s support pillars, destroying the 1.6-mile span and killing six members of the road construction crew.
Safety investigators released a preliminary report earlier this year that documented a series of electrical problems on the ship before and after it departed Baltimore. But the new records provide more details about how the ship’s electrical system may have failed at key moments leading up to the fatal disaster.
The Dali first lost power while it was still docked in Baltimore. According to previous reports, the incident occurred after a crew member accidentally closed a drain valve during maintenance, causing one of the ship’s diesel engines to die. Crew members then changed the ship’s electrical configuration, switching from one transformer and circuit breaker system — which had been in use for months — to a second system that was operational when the ship left port.
According to investigative reports, the second transformer and circuit breaker system is where investigators found the loose cable.
Investigators also removed an electrical component from the same system for further testing, according to a supplemental report released in June. They removed what is known as a terminal block, which is used to connect electrical wires.
Engineers from Hyundai, the manufacturer of the ship’s electrical system, said a loose cable could have created an open circuit and caused the circuit breaker to open, according to a 41-page report detailing tests conducted on the Dali in the weeks after the collapse. Engineers disconnected the cable as part of a simulation, leading to a loss of power on the ship.
Hyundai sent engineers from its headquarters in South Korea to assist in the investigation in April.
The new documents also include several certificates issued following inspections of the Dali vessel regarding its general condition and compliance with maritime safety regulations.
“They clearly thought they had found a problem that could have caused the power outage,” said Tom Roth-Roffy, a former National Transportation Safety Board investigator who focused on maritime investigations. He said the loose cable was at a critical location in the electrical system.
He also noted that investigators took a comprehensive approach and documented their findings well. The new documents show that they found few other problems as they examined the various systems and machinery on the Dali.
As for whether the loose connections were due to inadequate ship maintenance or other crew issues, Roth-Roffy said it seems like a trade-off. Inspecting hundreds or thousands of wires is a tedious and time-consuming process, he said, and there are many factors that can cause connections to loosen over time, including constant vibration on a ship.
“To say that this should have been detected is probably true but somewhat unrealistic,” he said. “But the ship’s crew has the ultimate responsibility for the proper maintenance and operation of the ship.”
The Dali left Baltimore for Virginia in late June. It was scheduled for repairs there, and last week local media reported that it would head to China, possibly later this month.
