1 day Ago By Mallory Wilson
The owner and manager of the cargo ship that caused the Baltimore bridge collapse recklessly cut corners and ignored known electrical problems on the vessel, the Justice Department said Wednesday in a lawsuit that seeks more $100 million in damages and penalties.. Deputy Associate Attorney General Ben Mizer said the March collision of the Francis Scott Key Bridge that killed six construction workers was “senseless and wholly preventable” when announcing the civil suit against the cargo ship Dali’s owner, Grace Ocean Private Limited, and operator, Synergy Marine Private Limited.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that the civil claim is the Justice Department “working to ensure that the costs of clearing the channel and reopening the Port of are borne by the companies that caused the crash, not by the American taxpayer.” The DOJ’s filing said the Singapore-based ship was poorly maintained and violated safety regulations for international shipping, including “excessive vibrations” that were obvious signs of transformer and electrical failure. The vibrations caused equipment to crack in the engine room while also jostling bolts loose and breaking ties for electrical cables, the complaint alleges.
The electrical systems were so shoddy that prosecutors said an independent investigation into the hardware was called off due to safety concerns. Dali crew members routinely “jury-rigged” problems aboard the ship and returned to sea instead of properly addressing and fixing malfunctioning systems, according to the filing. “It is clear that this accident was completely avoidable,” Chetan Patil, the acting deputy assistant attorney general for the torts branch, said on a press call announcing the lawsuit.
“Because power could not be restored, there was no way to steer the ship,” he continued. “This accident happened because of the careless and grossly negligent decisions made by Grace Ocean and , who recklessly chose to send an unseaworthy vessel to navigate a critical waterway and ignored the risks to American lives and the nation’s infrastructure.” The National Transportation Safety Board said last week that the ship experienced a blackout while docked in Baltimore because a crew member mistakenly closed an exhaust damper, causing one of the vessel’s engines to stall.
Investigators said the crew switched the ship’s electrical system to another setup, but that system is where the NTSB found a loose cable that triggered a blackout similar to the one that occurred moments before the crash. Federal prosecutors said Dali’s crew “recklessly disabled” an automated system that switches electrical configurations in case the one in use fails. Because of this decision, crew members had to manually kickstart the power, which can take at least a minute.
“Had the step-down transformers been in the automatic mode, the Dali would not have lost power and steering for any meaningful period of time, and the devastating tragedy that ensued would not have occurred,” the filing said. Even after power was briefly restored, the ship’s systems flickered and went offline again due to fuel pump issues that went unaddressed to save money. The four key components that control the ship — its propeller, rudder, anchor and bow thruster — were knocked offline by the outages and resulted in the ship drifting helplessly into the bridge.
The deadly March 26 collision saw the Dali slam into the span’s pillars, sending the structure into the chilly waters below. Six road workers died in the collapse while two others were pulled out of the wreckage by rescue teams. The crumpled bridge clogged the main shipping lane into the Port of Baltimore and halted commerce at the bustling harbor until June, when the channel was finally cleared.
Grace Ocean spokesman Darrell Wilson offered no comment but said the two companies “look forward to our day in court to set the record straight.” The federal lawsuit is the latest legal action being taken against the Dali. In April, Baltimore city officials sued to hold the ship’s owners responsible for allowing the freighter to set sail with known power problems.
The FBI also opened its own criminal investigation into the crash that month. Families of the bridge collapse victims shared Tuesday their plans to file a negligence lawsuit against Grace Ocean Private. “We should be able to live in a world where our loved ones come home safe and we do not have the threat of losing them to dangerous work,” said Maria del Carmen Castellón, whose husband Miguel Luna died in the bridge wreckage.
“We honor our loved ones through this lawsuit, and we honor our loved ones through demanding systemic change that will bring about dignity and justice for immigrants and essential workers because they, too, deserve it in this country.” An attorney for the families said they intend to file a lawsuit by Sept. 24.
Luna died in the bridge collapse along with Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, Maynor Yasir Suazo-Sandoval, Carlos Daniel Hernández Estrella and José Mynor López. Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC. .
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