A Week After Us Bridge Collapse…20 Indian crew still trapped on Dali ship

New York: The Indian crew onboard a crippled container vessel that collided against a key bridge in Baltimore last week is “healthy”, according to a nonprofit organisation that has been in touch with the personnel.

The 2.6km-long, four-lane bridge over the Patapsco River in Baltimore, came crashing down after Dali, a 984-foot cargo ship bound for Sri Lanka, collided against it in the early hours of March 26.

The 21 crew members of Dali, of which 20 are Indians, are still onboard the crippled cargo ship nearly a week after the collision.

“All I know right now is that they are healthy and we are doing the best we can to support their needs emotionally and otherwise,” Baltimore International Seafarers’ Centre Executive Director Rev Joshua Messick said.

Joshua Messick said he has “been in touch with the crew via WhatsApp” and described the crew’s responses to him as well as to those who are in touch with it as being “succinct”. “I imagine they are being very careful about what they say and to whom,” he said.

Joshua Messick added that he has again reached out to the crew of the Dali to “see if I could have anything delivered to them today.” The Baltimore International Seafarers’ Centre is a nonprofit organisation serving seafarers who call on the Port of Baltimore from all over the world. Its mission is to “facilitate the well-being of crew members by offering transportation ashore,” according to information on its website.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi had said that 20 Indians are onboard the cargo ship Dali and the Indian Embassy in Washington is in close touch with them and the local authorities.

“Our information is that there are 21 crew members, of which 20 are Indians. All of them are in good shape, (and in) good health. One of them got injured slightly and needed to have some stitches, and stitches have been given. And, he has gone back to the ship,” MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in response to a query during his weekly media briefing last week.