Dali cargo ship suffered ‘severe electrical problem’ while docked in Baltimore days prior to bridge collapse crash that saw it suffer ‘total power failure, loss of engine failure’, port worker says
The Dali cargo ship which smashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge suffered a ‘severe electrical problem’ while docked in Baltimore days before, according to a port worker.
Julie Mitchell, co-administrator of Container Royalty, a company which tracks cargo, told CNN the ship was anchored at the port for at least 48 hours prior to the deadly crash.
‘And those two days, they were having serious power outages… they had a severe electrical problem,’ Mitchell told the broadcaster. ‘It was total power failure, loss of engine power, everything.’
Mitchell explained that refrigerated boxes tripped breakers on board the ship on several occasions, and mechanics had been trying to fix the issue.
She said she didn’t know whether the problem had been fixed when the ship set off.
The Dali cargo ship which smashed into the Key Bridge suffered a ‘severe electrical problem’ while docked in Baltimore days before, according to a port worker
Maryland Governor Wes Moore said the ship’s crew notified officials that it had lost power in the moments before the collision.
Mitchell told CNN that major power problems on board large vessels like the Dali are ‘not really that common at all’, describing the freak incident as ‘very rare’.
‘They shouldn’t have let the ship leave port until they got it on under control,’ she said.
