Baltimore Bridge Collapse: Biden praises prompt action of Indian crew

Washington: US President Joe Biden hailed the prompt action of the 22-member Indian crew of the cargo ship that struck and demolished a key bridge for saving lives by alerting local authorities before the dramatic collision.

Baltimore’s 2.6 km-long Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after the container ship manned entirely by an Indian crew collided with one of its supports on Tuesday, possibly killing six people and bringing one of the most important ports in the northeast US to a grinding halt. Officials said the Singapore-flagged ship ‘Dali’ suffered a “power issue” and issued a distress call moments before the crash.

In remarks at the White House, Biden praised the ship’s crew, saying the alert they sent before the collision saved lives.

“Personnel on board the ship were able to alert the Maryland Department of Transportation that they had lost control of their vessel…As a result, local authorities were able to close the bridge to traffic before the bridge was struck, which undoubtedly saved lives,” Biden said. He stressed that “everything so far indicates” that this was a terrible accident. “At this time, we have no other indication -- no other reason to believe there was any intentional act here,” Biden said. According to an American Pilots Association officer, the ship suffered a total blackout before the collision with the bridge, CNN reported.

“Just minutes before the bridge, there was a total blackout on the ship, meaning that the ship lost engine power and electrical power; it was a complete blackout,” said Clay Diamond, executive director and general counsel of the American Pilots Association.

Diamond said that the pilot did “everything that he could have done” to slow the ship down and keep it from drifting to the right, toward the bridge. The pilot was also the one who contacted the pilot dispatch office to shut down traffic to the bridge, said Diamond, who has been in close contact with the Association of Maryland Pilots over what transpired on the cargo ship in the moments leading up to the crash.