BRIDGE IN US COLLAPSES AFTER HIT BY CARGO SHIP
A vessel has collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, United States on Tuesday.
The Dali crashed into the bridge and caused 2.6km of the bridge to collapse. Several vehicles fell into the Patapsco River below causing seven people to die and an unknown number missing.
According to Vessel Finder, the ship was built in South Korea in 2015 by Hyundai Heavy Industries. It’s owned by Oceanbulk Maritime and chartered by Maersk.
The Dali can carry up to 10,000 containers.
Soon after the accident, the Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) confirmed that the Dali was registered in Singapore.
It’s believed there were 22 crew members on board, all of them Indian.
According to Vessel Finder, the Dali cargo ship was also involved in a collision in Belgium in 2016. At the time, the ship was leaving the container terminal of Antwerp when its bow swung around. This caused the stern to scrape the side of the quay, damaging several metres of the ship’s hull.
Sky News reports that information recovered from the ship’s voyage data recorder showed power failed for just one minute and three seconds as it approached the structure, but that was enough for the collision to become seemingly unavoidable.
Local authorities will be interviewing the crew to find out what happened.
Image credit: CNN