Single faulty wire led cargo ship to crash into Baltimore bridge: Report

Investigators accidental faulty wiring and 2 blackouts led the ship’s pilots to suffer power of propulsion and steering.

A azygous escaped ligament connected the Dali, a 300-metre (984ft) instrumentality ship, was liable for the deadly illness of the Francis Scott Key Bridge successful Baltimore past year, according to a months-long probe by the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

Due to problems with the wiring, the Dali experienced 2 blackouts connected March 26, 2024, earlier losing power of propulsion and steering, starring the instrumentality vessel to clang into the span and termination six road workers, the NTSB said successful a connection connected Tuesday.

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The span illness created a planetary media sensation past twelvemonth erstwhile a livestream video of the mishap went viral. It was captured by a camera acceptable up to show postulation done the Port of Baltimore but alternatively filmed the swift illness of a large conception of the bridge.

NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said uncovering the culprit down the mishap took months of diligent enactment from the agency’s investigators.

“Our investigators routinely execute the impossible, and this probe is nary different,” she said. “The Dali astatine astir 1,000ft is arsenic agelong arsenic the Eiffel Tower is precocious with miles of wiring and thousands of electrical connections. Finding this azygous ligament was similar hunting for a escaped rivet connected the Eiffel Tower.”

The probe besides recovered that the unit of the Dali tried and failed to steer the vessel distant from the span but was incapable to bash truthful owed to electrical problems, the NTSB said.

The bureau praised the ship’s pilots for swiftly notifying section authorities of the problems, which led the Maryland Transportation Authority to halt postulation from crossing the astir 4km-long (2.5-mile-long) bridge.

Seven workers were already connected the span astatine the time, the NTSB said, and six were killed successful the accident.

The shipping transmission afloat reopened successful June, but the Maryland Transportation Board said this week that the span volition not reopen until 2030 and volition outgo $4.3bn to $5.2bn to repair, according to CBS News.