Questions about the incredible accident involving a boat and a bridge in Baltimore (United States) at the end of March will perhaps dissipate. In a preliminary report published Tuesday, May 14, the American Transportation Safety Agency (NTSB) states that the container ship responsible for the collapse of the structure suffered electrical failures before the impact.
THE Dalí, flying the Singaporean flag, would have experienced initial damage approximately ten hours before the accident, during maintenance operations carried out in the port of Baltimore. Then another power outage caused the boat to lose steering and propulsion, this time shortly before the impact.
“The NTSB is investigating the electrical configuration after (this) first damage in the port and its possible consequences on the events occurring at the time of the accident »says the report.
On March 26, the Francis-Scott-Key Bridge collapsed in a few seconds like a house of cards after being hit by the Dalí. The crew of the container ship, which was leaving the port of Baltimore, on the East Coast of the United States, bound for Sri Lanka, had managed to appeal for help to the authorities just before the tragedy, which had made it possible to cut off part of the road traffic on the structure. Six workers who were carrying out repair work on the bridge, Latin American immigrants, were killed. The last body was found on May 8.
The dismounted container ship
According to the report, the crew had been subjected to multiple drug and alcohol tests before and after the disaster, and all came back negative. The authorities destroyed a piece of the structure with explosives on Monday in order to free the embedded container ship.
The bridge was an important highway for the northeastern United States, connecting the capital, Washington, and New York. Maritime transport in one of the country’s busiest ports had been blocked.
“We will move heaven and earth to rebuild this bridge as quickly as possible”, declared Joe Biden during an on-site visit in early April. In the meantime, a temporary navigation corridor has been opened, in particular to allow the passage of vessels carrying out clearing operations.