Listen to this article
Average 4 minutes
The audio version of this article was created by AI-based technology. It can be mispronounced. We are working with our partners to continuously review and improve the results.
The US Department of Justice said Tuesday that a grand jury has indicted two foreign workers and a coast guard in the collision with the 300-foot freighter Dali that destroyed Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge and killed six builders.
Synergy Marine Pte Ltd., based in Singapore, and Synergy Maritime Pte Ltd., based in Chennai, India, and Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair, 47, an Indian national who worked for both companies as Dali's technical superintendent, were charged with conspiracy, willful failure to notify a known US security guard. Procedures and false statements.
“The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge was a preventable tragedy with far-reaching consequences,” said Todd Blanche, acting attorney general, in a statement.
Prosecutors say Nair is believed to be in India. It is not clear whether the US has reached out to Indian authorities to help with extradition.
The companies and individuals were charged with conspiring to defraud the United States and murdering six workers on the bridge, among other charges.
These companies and Nair were also charged with providing false statements and documents to the National Transportation Security Board.
Baltimore engineers used explosives to clear the remains of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, bringing them one step closer to reopening the critical shipping terminal. Andrew Chang explains what makes the mission so delicate, why the ship and its crew have been stuck for weeks and what challenges lie ahead.
The two Synergy companies were also charged with violating the Clean Water Act, the Oil Pollution Act and the Dumping Act by discharging pollutants into the Patapsco River.
According to the lawsuit, the Dali lost power twice in a four-minute period, as it was leaving the Port of Baltimore. The ship crashed into a support column of the Key Bridge at about 1:30 a.m. ET, sending parts of the bridge into the river and workers born in Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala who died in the accident.
The Justice Department said the defendants were accused of relying on a priming pump to supply fuel to two of Dali's four generators, but the priming pump was not designed to restart automatically after a power outage, and the Dali generators could not run without fuel.
The case alleged that if the Dali had used the correct fuel pumps, the ship would have received power in time to fish safely under the bridge.
A housing settlement was recently announced
The final report released on the NTSB's investigation into the incident found that two power outages — one caused by loose wiring between the Dali and fuel pump problems — disabled the cargo ship's controls before it crashed into the bridge.
The bridge, a symbol of the long Baltimore area, was an important part of the transportation infrastructure that allowed motorists to easily pass through the city. The first 2.6 km steel track took five years to build and was opened to traffic in 1977.
The Justice Department said the collision caused at least $5 billion in damages and extensive environmental damage.
The true cost of the fallout was far greater, according to the Maryland Attorney General's Office. It halted shipping in the port of Baltimore, disrupted the lives of thousands, snarled traffic through already burdened communities and created economic problems across the country.
The case comes after an agreement between the state, Synergy Marine and Grace Ocean Private Ltd., the owner of the ship based in Singapore, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown announced in April.
That lawsuit alleges that the accident was caused by the negligence, mismanagement and negligent operation of a vessel that was unseaworthy and unfit to leave port. The plaintiffs include the families of the six construction workers who died, the owners of the ship's cargo and local governments seeking compensation for economic losses.
Details of the settlement have not been disclosed and other parts of the case have not been resolved.
