Investigators Looking Into Whether Problem with Ship's Fuel Supply Led to Baltimore Bridge Disaster: Report
The collision that destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, may have been caused by contaminated fuel that ultimately led to the ship’s power loss.
The ship reported “power issues and a loss of propulsion,” according to a U.S. Coast Guard report cited by Fox News early Wednesday.
In fact, according to Fox, the container ship Dali’s lights began flickering as early as an hour into the ship’s voyage.
“The vessel went dead, no steering power and no electronics,” an unnamed officer aboard the ship said Tuesday, according to Fox. “One of the engines coughed and then stopped.
“The smell of burned fuel was everywhere in the engine room and it was pitch black,” the officer added.
Crew members issued a mayday call that probably saved lives, but there wasn’t enough time to drop anchors to check the ship’s momentum, the officer explained.
The ship was traveling at a normal speed for the type of ship and the waters it occupied, about 9.2 mph, according to Fox.
Fotis Pagoulatos, a naval architect, told Fox that contaminated fuel can foul a ship’s main power generators and lead to blackouts.
Smaller generators take time to bring online, and even then, they wouldn’t provide the as much power as the main one.
“[A] complete blackout could result in a ship losing propulsion,” Fox reported, citing Pagoulatos.
Investigators had not yet attempted to board the Dali, and the 948-foot ship could be stuck on one of the collapsed Key Bridge’s pillars for “weeks,” according to Fox.
Six men who had been repairing potholes and performing other maintenance on the bridge were missing and, by late Tuesday, presumed dead, according to The Washington Post.
Two others were rescued, one of whom was not injured and the other of whom officials told the Post was in “very serious condition.”
It wasn’t yet known how many other vehicles went into the Patapsco River when the bridge collapsed, or how many people were in those vehicles.
“Col. Roland L. Butler Jr., secretary of the Maryland State Police, said Tuesday evening that it was a ‘distinct possibility’ that other motorists were on the bridge at the time of the collapse, and they would also be presumed dead,” the Post reported Tuesday. “He said divers will return to the waters at 6 a.m. Wednesday for a recovery operation.”
None of the 24 people on the Dali at the time of the collision were reported to have been injured.
National Transportation Safety Board chief Jennifer Homendy said in a news conference that the recovery effort and investigation into the causes of the accident would involve multiple agencies.
“This is a team effort,” she said, according to Fox. “There are a lot of entities right now in the command post.”
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