MV Daly: Cargo ship accident off Baltimore Harbor

Three months after a major highway bridge collapsed in Baltimore, USA, the container ship Daly left the metropolitan port. The nearly 300-meter-long vessel, registered in Singapore, left for Norfolk, Virginia, USA, on Monday morning (local time). There, around 1,500 containers were unloaded and after a 20-hour journey a port of repair was to be carried out.

In late March, a container ship collided with a support pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing the collapse of the four-lane highway bridge spanning more than 2.5 kilometers. The power on board failed earlier – the 300m Colossus was unable to maneuver and then crashed into a pier. The bridge collapsed within seconds.

In mid-May, the cargo ship was refloated and moved towards Baltimore harbor with the help of tugboats. The ship remained there until Monday. The Baltimore Harbor entrance will be re-accessible for two weeks.

U.S. District Judge James Brader on Thursday decided to allow the Dali team members to return home from India and Sri Lanka. In return they signed an agreement to be tried by prosecutors in their own country. The background is the ongoing investigation into the cause of the accident.

6 people died in this accident. They were construction workers who were repairing the bridge at the time of the accident. According to preliminary findings, the vessel may have been unable to operate due to an electrical fault. The US Federal Police Agency, the FBI, has launched an investigation.