National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) officials confirmed Wednesday evening that the cargo ship that crashed into the Baltimore Bridge was carrying 764 tons of hazardous materials and released some black box data from before the crash. .
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy, speaking at a press conference about the commission’s previous investigation, said there were 21 crew members and two pilots on board the ship at the time of the accident. Additionally, Homendy confirmed that the ship was carrying 56 containers of dangerous goods, equivalent to 764 tonnes. (Related: Two bodies found after Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say)
“He was able to identify 56 containers containing hazardous materials. This is 764 tons of hazardous materials, most of which are corrosive, flammable, and several other hazardous materials, It’s a Class 9 hazardous material, and that includes lithium-ion batteries,” Homendy said.
Officials have not provided details on how much material ended up in the sea as the investigation is still ongoing, but Homendy said some containers were “damaged” and some were still inside the port. He said there was a shine to it.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River early Tuesday morning after the Dali, a container ship chartered by a Danish shipping company, collided with the structure. The cargo ship turned over to NTSB officials about six hours of navigation data leading up to the tragic accident, and a brief timeline was read out at a press conference.
A timeline provided by officials appears to show that the ship’s pilot reported that the Dali had lost all power about two minutes before the collision at less than 8 miles per hour. Notably, before losing power, the pilot had radioed for rescue tugs in the area, but there were no tugs at the time, Homendy noted, which is typical protocol.
“The tugs help the ship leave the dock and enter the main channel. And then they leave. Once on track, they pass straight through the channel. So there were no tugs on this ship at the time. So they called in tugboats,” Homendy said.
Homendy pointed out that the Francis Scott Key Bridge lacks any of the redundancies typically found in today’s preferred architectural structures.
“The bridge is in danger of being destroyed,” Homendy said. “What this means is that if a member fails and there is a high probability that part or all of the bridge will collapse, there is no redundancy. The way to do it is to build in redundancy, such as transferring loads to another member or some kind of structural redundancy. This bridge had no redundancy.”
NTSB officials began interviewing the Dali’s captain and several other crew members on Wednesday, and additional interviews will continue tomorrow. Homendy said not all of the information collected will be analyzed by the NTSB and it will not provide “any findings, conclusions or safety recommendations at the scene.”
“Our focus at the scene is to collect indelible evidence: documenting the scene, taking photographs, removing all kinds of electronic equipment and parts, even those that disappear once the scene is cleared. It could be anything,” Homendy said.
Authorities expect the investigation could take 12 to 24 months.
