MIAMI.- He “Dali”nine years old, was the barco that crashed at dawn on Tuesday, March 26, against the largest bridge in Baltimore, a Marylandleaving a balance of six missing, who the authorities presume dead, after the collapse of the road structure.
The container ship, which collided with one of the bridge trusses Francis Scott Key around 01:30 am local time, it was built in 2015 by Hyundai Heavy Industriesbased in South Korea.
Registered under the flag of Singapore, this container ship has dimensions of 299.92 meters long and 48.2 meters widea gross tonnage of 95,128 and a weight of 116,851 tons.
What happened on the bridge?
The “Dali” still had 27 days of travel left to reach its final destination, the Colombo port in Sri Lankacollided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing the complete collapse of the structure and the fall of several vehicles into the waters of the Patapsco River.
The accident occurs when the “Dali”, trying to pass under the bridge, performs a maneuver to turn around and take the route towards the bay, but heads directly into one of the pillars of the infrastructure.
As can be seen in the images recorded by the port of Baltimore webcam, due to the large column of smoke coming out of the container ship’s chimney, it seems that The “Dali” tries to avoid the impact at full speedbut the ship’s lights go out, shortly before the collision occurs.
The world shipping company, Synergy Marine Groupreported in a statement that all crew members, including the two pilots, were located and no injuries were reported.
So far, the exact origin of this collision has not been determined, but the shipping company has already activated its Qualified Individual Incident Response service to investigate the accident and guarantee that all necessary measures are taken, in accordance with applicable regulations.
It is not the first accident
The 2,632-meter-long Francis Scott Key Bridge was built in 1972 and was a key transportation route for Baltimore and its surrounding areas.
The platform, which crosses the waters of the Patapsco River, It is a vital link between the city’s port facilities and the main highways, which serve to link the districts of Sparrows Point, Dundalk y Hawkins Pointso any interruption in its operation can have important economic consequences.
It is It is not the first accident in which the “Dali” has been involved.. In 2016, a year after its manufacture, it had a minor accident, with no injuries.
On that occasion, he crashed into a stone wall in the port of Antwerp, Belgium, during the unmooring maneuvers to leave the place. The vessel suffered damage to the stern and waterline, while the dock also suffered significant damage, which forced it to close to traffic.
“It was caused by an error by the captain and the pilot on board”reported VesselFinder, one of the main international maritime traffic monitoring services, about that incident.
Before the accident in Baltimore, the “Dali” visited several ports. Among them, the Norfolk, in Virginia; the one in New York, and two in Panama: the Gatun East Wide and the Panama Canal Wide. Pacific.
Source: With information from 20 Minutes / us.as.com / euronews
