Washington:

The US Justice Department filed a lawsuit on Wednesday seeking more than $100 million from the Singapore owner and operator of a cargo ship that destroyed a Baltimore bridge.

The 1,000-foot (300-meter) M/V Dali collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, killing six road workers and blocking the busy shipping channel.

The civil suit against Grace Ocean Private and Synergy Marine Private was filed in the US District Court for the District of Maryland.

“The Justice Department is committed to ensuring accountability for those responsible for the destruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

“With this civil claim, the Justice Department is working to ensure that the costs of clearing the channel and reopening the Port of Baltimore are borne by the companies that caused the crash, not by the American taxpayer.”

The Justice Department said the suit is aimed at recovering more than $100 million in costs incurred in responding to the disaster and for removing tons of bridge debris.

The Dali lost power while leaving the port of Baltimore for Sri Lanka and struck the bridge.

Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer said the owner and operator of the Dali were “well aware of vibration issues on the vessel that could cause a power outage.

“But instead of taking necessary precautions, they did the opposite.

“Out of negligence, mismanagement, and, at times, a desire to cut costs, they configured the ship’s electrical and mechanical systems in a way that prevented those systems from being able to quickly restore propulsion and steering after a power outage,” Mizer said.

“As a result, when the Dali lost power, a cascading set of failures led to disaster.”

The Justice Department suit comes after Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine filed a legal action of their own earlier this year seeking to limit their liability to $44 million.

The Justice Department lawsuit does not seek damages for the eventual costs of rebuilding the bridge. That is expected to be the subject of a separate claim from the state of Maryland.

The families of the six road workers who lost their lives are also pursuing legal claims of their own.

The Fort McHenry channel leading to the port of Baltimore, a key hub for the auto industry, reopened to commercial navigation on June 10.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

Eight Indian crew members of the cargo ship ‘Dali’ that crashed into a famed Baltimore bridge in March left for India on Friday after nearly three months on the mammoth vessel.

According to Baltimore Maritime Exchange, four of the 21 crew members are still on board the 984-foot cargo ship MV Dali, which is tentatively scheduled to leave Friday evening for Norfolk, Virginia.

The rest of the crew has been moved to a service apartment in Baltimore and will remain there pending an investigation.

Notably, 20 of the crew members were Indian nationals. They were on board the MV Dali Cargo, which struck the pillars of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge resulting in its collapse and the death of six construction workers in the tragic incident.

Dali will undergo repair at Norfolk.

The departure of eight Indian crew members including a cook, a fitter and seamen follows a deal approved by the judge. None of these are officers. The rest 13 would remain in the US, mainly because of the pending investigations.

“They’re anxious, under considerable stress considering they don’t know the future. They don’t know when they’ll see their family again or how they’ll be treated here,” Rev. Joshua Messick, director of the Baltimore International Seafarers’ Center and chaplain for the Port of Baltimore told CNN.

None of the crew members have been charged in connection with the disaster. FBI and other federal agencies are conducting the investigations.

The 2.6km-long, four-lane Francis Scott Key Bridge over the Patapsco River in Baltimore, came crashing down after Dali collided against it on March 26.

The vessel is owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd and was outbound from Baltimore to Colombo and has a capacity of 10,000 TEU, with onboard units totalling 4,679 TEU. The vessel’s deadweight is 116,851 DWT.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)