 "Explosive charges are detonated to bring down sections of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge resting on the container ship Dali on Monday, 13 May 2024, in Baltimore. AP")
It’s been seven weeks since the deadly Baltimore disaster killed half a dozen people, destroyed a key US river crossing, and halted shipping traffic at important ports on the US East Coast.
The bodies of the six construction workers who were fixing potholes on the bridge when it collapsed have been pulled from the water around them.
However, the Singapore-flagged container ship Dali and the crew — 20 Indians and one Sri Lankan — have remained in place since, cut off from the rest of the world.
The crew’s future remains an open question.
Some worry they’ll be held personally liable for the disaster.
Here’s what we know about Dali’s crew, what they’ve been doing and what their future holds.
The crew on board
The massive cargo ship in Baltimore, which has its bow pinned by the remains of the collapsed Francis Scott Key bridge it struck on 26 March, has trapped its crew of men from Sri Lanka and India for the past 50 days.
About a week after the disaster, the Rev. Mark Nestlehutt, president and executive director of the Seamen’s Church Institute in New York, claimed he and other others boarded the Dali to provide the crew with a “compassionate ear.”
“Everybody was trying to make the best out of a tragic situation. At that point, the only real question for the seafarers was when they might be able to go home,” Nestlehutt told The Associated Press.
Impact Shorts
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The Dali was well-stocked for what was supposed to be a long voyage, while additional food has been brought onboard as well, said Darrel Wilson, a spokesperson for Synergy Marine, the Dali’s Singapore-based management company, according to the news agency.
Crewmembers have stayed busy, focused on the many tasks of running a large cargo vessel.
On Monday, crews demolished a part of the bridge by setting off explosives in a bid to free the grounded Dali container ship, as per News18.
According to the US Army Corps of Engineers, this will enable salvage crews to use cranes and barges to remove the twisted metal wreckage.
Crewmembers have also participated in the ongoing federal investigation into the crash.
Religious organisations and unions have paid them visits.
Most of the crew are Hindu, Nestlehutt said, but others are Muslim and Christian.
Bishop Adam J Parker from the Baltimore Archdiocese visited the ship in early May and held mass with three Roman Catholic crew members in a small office, said Andrew Middleton, director of the archdiocese’s Apostleship of the Sea, as per AP.
He added they also passed along care packages, including from a stranger in Minnesota, that had candy, socks and puzzles, among other things.
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Their concerns
The crew has been left almost without communication with the outside world.
This is because their cellphones have been seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as part of the investigation, Joshua Messick, executive director of the Baltimore International Seafarers’ Centre, a non-profit organisation that works to protect the rights of mariners, told PTI.
Wilson said the phones have been replaced with new ones, and Synergy Marine said in a statement in early April that the crew had unlimited use of the ship’s satellite communications to stay in touch with family.
But Nestlehutt and unions say the new phones lack the personal information that’s on the old phones, such as contacts, family photos and banking apps for transferring money back home to their families.
The two unions representing crew members, the Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union and the Singapore Organisation of Seamen, called for the “swift return” the phones in a statement.
The unions said the men also suffered emotional distress from witnessing the crash and have an “unfounded fear of personal criminal liability.”
“The criminalisation of seafarers based solely on their position on board a vessel during an incident is a growing concern,” said Mary Liew, general secretary for the officers’ union.
Dave Heindel, the president of the Seafarers International Union, was quoted by the BBC as saying that “however long the investigation takes, the crew’s rights and welfare should not be infringed upon.”
“We call on the authorities to be mindful that seafarers utilise mobile devices to conduct personal business for bill payments, and, more importantly, transfer money to their home country to sustain families. Crew members are becoming demoralised without the basic tools we all take for granted,” he said, as per the BBC.
Nestlehutt also said the crewmen are concerned that continuing to be detained on the ship could imperil future visas to the US or for the crewmembers’ children.
Preliminary report
The crew has been unable to disembark from the ship due to limits on visas and ongoing investigations by the FBI and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
According to a preliminary investigation by federal investigators released on Tuesday, the Dali experienced two power outages just prior to the tragedy.
About 10 hours before departing Baltimore, there were two blackouts, according to the investigation.
The electrical blackouts that the container ship Dali experienced prior to leaving Baltimore’s port were “mechanically distinct from” those that led to the fatal collapse of the Francis Scott Bridge hours later, according to testimony given before Congress on Wednesday.
“Two were related to routine maintenance in port. Two were unexpected tripping of circuit breakers on the accident voyage,” NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy testified.
His remarks came a day after the safety board released its preliminary report into the bridge collapse, as per News18.
The full investigation could take a year.
What’s next
The Dali is currently scheduled to be refloated during high tide on Tuesday, officials said over the weekend.
They said several tugboats will be used to guide the ship to a nearby terminal in the Port of Baltimore, where it will likely remain for a few weeks and undergo treatment repairs before being moved to a shipyard for more substantial repairs.
Wilson stated that while the crash investigation is ongoing, the men will stay on board “for the foreseeable future.”
“Nobody knows that ship better than the crew. So they are instrumental in helping with the salvage operation as well as the investigation process,” he said, as per AP.
Nestlehutt said 1.6 million people work as seafarers on cargo vessels — an invisible workforce.
“This is maybe a chance to appreciate what seafarers do for us day-in and day-out. To make sure that we have the things that we order from Amazon and the cars that we want to drive and the things we want to put on our table,” he said.
Baltimore bridge collapse
The 2.6-kilometre-long, four-lane Francis Scott Key Bridge over the Patapsco River collapsed after being struck by the 984-foot Dali ship.
A number of videos captured almost every light on the ship going out just before the terrifying crash.
Loaded with enough food for a month-long cruise and shipping containers, the Dali was en route to Sri Lanka.
Six construction workers were killed when the ship, which had left the Port of Baltimore early on March 26, lost power and propulsion and collided with one of the supporting columns of the bridge.
Maryland estimates it will cost $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion to rebuild the bridge and anticipates completion by fall 2028.
According to News18, US coast guard Vice Admiral Peter Gautier said at a US House hearing on Wednesday that the “size and complexity of ships has grown over the years, placing greater demands on our marine transportation infrastructure that may not have kept pace with the increased risks that these vessels pose.”
A national board of inquiry that Gautier has set up will evaluate the state of risk management tools and suggest ways to “reduce the risks of major incidents.”
With inputs from agencies