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Lost power, a mayday call and the crash that brought down a Baltimore bridge

Published

2 years ago

2024/03/27

Priyan

At least six people are still missing. They are believed to be members of a road crew working on the bridge at the time of the collapse. (BBC)

By the time the crew of the Dali, a massive 948ft (289m) container ship, realised what was happening, it was already far too late.

The vessel – at the very start of a 27-day journey from the port of Baltimore to Sri Lanka – completely lost power after leaving the port and was hurtling towards the city’s iconic Francis Scott Key Bridge.

It was the middle of the night and the crew onboard were pitched into further darkness when the ship’s lights suddenly went out.

The vessel was dead: there were no electronics and – crucially – no engine power. They were adrift but powerless to stop what was happening.

Multiple alarms rang out as the crew ran unsuccessful tests in a desperate attempt to fix the issue and regain power. A local pilot onboard the vessel frantically gave orders, telling the crew to steer the rudder hard to port and drop anchor to keep it from drifting starboard. While an emergency generator is believed to have kicked in, the ship never regained the use of its engines.

The pilots were left with no choice. Shortly before 01:30 (05:30 GMT), they issued a mayday call warning authorities that a collision was imminent.

Map of the ship's route before it crashed into the bridge

“There’s a ship approaching that has lost their steering,” an official with the Maryland Transportation Authority can be heard saying in radio traffic recorded not long after. “Until you’ve got that under control, we’ve got to stop all traffic.”

Maryland Governor Wes Moore later hailed the crew as “heroes” and said that their quick response had “saved lives” because authorities were able to stop the flow of vehicle traffic on to the bridge in the two minutes between the call and the collision.

It did not, however, stop what happened when the Dali slammed into a concrete column on the 1.5-mile (2.4km) bridge, which quickly collapsed, piece by piece, into the dark, cold waters of the state’s Patapsco River.

Six people – all believed to be members of a road crew working on the bridge – are presumed dead due to the water temperature and time that has passed. The US Coast Guard said in the late evening on Tuesday that it had concluded the men had died and intended to suspend its massive search and rescue effort, which had been complicated by cold and cloudy weather.

Local media had reported that the six workers were citizens of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. The BBC has not independently confirmed this and has contacted consular authorities for comment. All 22 crew on the ship were Indian – the country is a major player in the global seafaring industry.

The ship’s crew were all accounted for and none appeared to suffer significant harm.

The dramatic destruction of the bridge – which opened 47 years ago – left many in the city, including Governor Moore, shaken.

“This is a place that is a normal commute route for 30,000 Marylanders every single day. To hear the words ‘the Key Bridge has collapsed’ is shocking. It’s heartbreaking,” Mr Moore said at a news conference on Tuesday.

“For over 47 years, it is all that we’ve known.”

“I felt it… The whole house shook,” John Flansburg, who lives near the water, told the BBC. “Today’s not going to be a good day. A lot of tragedy.”

Another area resident, Darlene Irwin, said that she first knew there was a problem when she heard a “rumbling sound”.

Hours later, the scale of the destruction became apparent when she looked out her window at the Patapsco River. The massive cargo ship, carrying at least 3,000 containers, was wedged between the debris of the collapsed bridge.

By then, the entire area had become the scene of a massive search and rescue effort, with police boats criss-crossing the river and police and Coast Guard helicopters flying overhead.

At a local school, two US military UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters were parked in a sports field, their camouflage-clad pilots and crew milling next to the aircraft.

“To see it now in the daylight,” Ms Irwin said, “it is just tragic.”

While officials have repeatedly stressed that their focus remains on the search for the missing, experts have warned that the incident could also have a significant impact on the port of Baltimore, one of the busiest on the US east coast.

Maryland Senator Ben Cardin told reporters that the re-opening of the waterway would be “critical” for the US economy.

The port is a key regional hub for goods ranging from steel and aluminum to agricultural equipment, and is used by car-makers including General Motors and Honda. Data from the Maryland Port Administration shows the port handled at least 750,000 vehicles last year.

“This will disrupt vessel schedules and strain handling capacities at other ports such as Philadelphia and Norfolk,” said Mirko Woitzik, global director of intelligence for Everstream Analytics, which provides supply-chain services.

“[This could] lead to spillover congestion and delays that could last month.”

Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, US President Joe Biden – who said he had commuted over the bridge “many, many times” between his home state of Delaware and Washington – vowed to “move heaven and earth” to re-open the bridge.

“We’re going to spend all the federal resources they need as we respond to this emergency,” he said. “And we’re going to rebuild that port together.”

Mr Biden added that 15,000 US jobs “depend on that port”.

Officials have so far declined to comment on any potential timeline for that to happen.

Authorities say that, for now, they are fully focused on the search and rescue operation.

Mr Moore, for his part, said only that the recovery process “will not be short”. Baltimore, he acknowledged, was facing a “long road” after the collapse.

This is not the first time the Dali has been involved in an incident.

According to Vessel Finder, a tracking website, the ship was involved in another collision in the Belgian port of Antwerp in 2016. There were no injuries or significant damage reported at the time.

As night fell on Tuesday, the ship and its load of 3,000 containers remained on the Patapsco River, its nose stuck between the mangled debris of the bridge it brought down in seconds.

(BBC)

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Related Topics:Dali Francis Scott Key Bridge.Patapsco River

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Heat Index a Caution level in Western, Sabaragamuwa, North-western, North-Central and Southern provinces and Mannar, Vavuniya, Trincomalee and Monaragala districts

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Advisory for Severe Lightning issued to the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, North-western, North-central, Southern, Uva provinces, and Mannar, Vavuniya, Ampara, Batticaloa districts

Published

6 hours ago

2026/04/21

Priyan

Advisory for Severe Lightning
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre
Issued at 12.00 noon 21 April 2026 valid for the period until 11.30 p.m. 21 April 2026

Thundershowers accompanied with severe lightning are likely to occur in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, North-western, Northcentral, Southern, Uva provinces, and in Mannar, Vavuniya, Ampara, Batticaloa districts after 1.00 p.m.

There may be temporary localized strong winds during thundershowers. General public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by lightning activity.

ACTION REQUIRED:

The Department of Meteorology advises that people should:
 Seek shelter, preferably indoors and never under trees.
 Avoid open areas such as paddy fields, tea plantations and open water bodies during thunderstorms.
 Avoid using wired telephones and connected electric appliances during thunderstorms.
 Avoid using open vehicles, such as bicycles, tractors and boats etc.
 Beware of fallen trees and power lines.
 For emergency assistance contact the local disaster management authorities

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US, Iran exchange threats as fragile ceasefire set to expire

Published

6 hours ago

2026/04/21

Priyan

The temporary ceasefire between the US and Iran is set to expire before a resolution as tension grows between the countries [Aljazeera]

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has said Iran is “prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield” after United States President Donald Trump threatened Tehran with “problems like they’ve never seen before” if the two-week ceasefire expires on Wednesday without a deal.

The war of words comes as the second round of US-Iran peace talks scheduled to take place this week in Pakistan remains in limbo after the US and Iranian flagged vessel near the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, angering Iranian authorities and provoking another surge in global oil prices.

Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi said, “There is no official confirmation on whether Iran is going to take part in talks in Islamabad.”

“We know that Iran has tried to keep the door ajar to diplomacy, so there is still a possibility,” he added.

In an overnight post on X, Ghalibaf expressed anger at Trump for “imposing a siege and violating the ceasefire”.

“We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats, and in the past two weeks, we have prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield,” he said.

This was a “mixed message”, according to Asadi, “saying Iran is ready for negotiations but not under terms imposed by the US”.

“There will be no easy negotiations, if, of course, they even happen, as there are still several complicated sticking points. Both sides have a long list of demands, including relating to the Strait of Hormuz, sanctions, war reparations, ballistic missiles and Iran’s regional relations,” Asadi said.

Meanwhile, Trump said he was confident that Iran would negotiate, adding that the country would otherwise “see problems”.

He told PBS News on Monday that if the ceasefire expires without a deal, then “lots of bombs start going off”.

[Aljazeera]

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Six Foreign Envoys Present Credentials to President Dissanayake

Published

8 hours ago

2026/04/21

Priyan

Two High Commissioners, three Ambassadors and an Apostolic Nuncio-designate of the Holy See presented their credentials to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the Presidential Secretariat this morning (20).

The ceremony, held at 10.00 a.m., followed the formal order of precedence, with the envoys representing Papua New Guinea, Somalia, Luxembourg, the Holy See, Pakistan and Kuwait.

Accordingly, diplomats who presented their credentials were:

01. Vincent Sumale, High Commissioner-designate of Papua New Guinea (Based in New Delhi)

02. Abdullahi Mohammed Odowa, Ambassador-designate of Somalia (Based in New Delhi)

03. Christian Biever, Ambassador-designate of Luxembourg (Based in New Delhi)

04. Monsignor Andrzej Józwowicz, Apostolic Nuncio-designate of the Holy See

05. Major General (Retd) Nayyar Naseer, High Commissioner-designate of Pakistan

06. Saleh Mubarak Al-Sarawi, Ambassador-designate of Kuwait

Following the presentation of credentials, the President engaged in a cordial discussion with them. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism, Vijitha Herath, and the Secretary to the President, Dr Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, were also in attendance.