The collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge rests on the container ship Dali on May 12, 2024, in Baltimore, as seen from Riviera Beach, Md.
| Photo Credit: AP

 Three months after the MV Dali cargo ship lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore, eight crew members have left for India with only a handful of crew on board.

There were 20 Indians and one Sri Lankan on the ship since March 26, when the 984-foot ship lost propulsion, veered off course and destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. Six construction workers who were on the bridge were killed in the incident, which remains the focus of two investigations by the FBI and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Also read | The Baltimore ship accident, the high stakes for India

On Wednesday, a motion was filed by the city of Baltimore asking to keep the crew members in the country. But, later on Thursday, after a court hearing, a judge approved the deal that would allow eight Indians to fly home. The eight eligible crewmembers do not include any officers.

They include a cook, a fitter, an oiler and several seamen. The eight members who will arrive in India shortly were allowed to leave the United States after a deal that ensured that they would be able to conduct lawsuit-related interviews. The remaining crewmembers, including all of the ship’s officers, will be required to stay in the United States until litigation involving the crash is finished, which could take more than a year.

The ship is tentatively scheduled to leave Friday evening for Norfolk, Virginia, according to a person familiar with the developments. The 13 crew members, mostly Indians, who will stay indefinitely in the US and are moved to service apartments in Baltimore, a source informed ANI.

The crew of four members will stay on board for the journey and will return to the service apartments in some time.

While none of the crew members have been charged in connection with the disaster, investigations are underway to determine who might be responsible. Baltimore mayor has announced a legal action to “hold the wrongdoers responsible.”

In March, the shipping vessel named the Dali lost power on its way out of Baltimore Harbour to Sri Lanka and slammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to collapse.

On April 5, US President Joe Biden visited the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore and vowed to “move heaven and Earth” to rebuild the structure. 

New Delhi:

The 20 Indian crew members of the ship that rammed a bridge in the US city of Baltimore are still on the vessel, answering officials and ensuring the ship’s daily routine work is done, the New York Times reported.

The crew members won’t be going anytime soon, until the mangled remains of the bridge have been cleared, NYT reported. They will in the meantime look after the ship.

The ship named Dali was going to Sri Lanka, carrying 4,700 containers, when it struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge after losing power.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said one of the Indian crew members was taken to a Baltimore hospital where he received stitches. He has returned to the ship, the MEA has said.

It may take weeks to remove the debris, free the ship, and reopen the channel to one of the busiest ports in the US. On Saturday, the Governor of Maryland said officials planned to remove the first piece of the debris.

Chris James, the employee of a consulting firm that’s helping the ship’s management company, Synergy Marine, told NYT the crew members have ample supplies of food and water, enough fuel to keep the generators working.

But there is still no exact timeline for when the ship might be extracted from the wreckage, Mr James told NYT. Once the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Coast Guard finish their investigations, the crew may be swapped to be sent home, Mr James said in the NYT report.

The crew has received praise for sending SOS messages to the local authorities which allowed them to stop much of the traffic before the accident. Six people who were part of a construction crew repairing potholes on the bridge were killed when the structure collapsed.

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