'Lost power, a mayday call and the crash that brought down a Baltimore bridge', 26 March 2024, BBC

The Dali, a massive 948ft (289m) container ship... [was] at the very start of a 27-day journey from the port of Baltimore to Sri Lanka [when it] completely lost power after leaving the port...

Multiple alarms rang out as the crew ran unsuccessful tests in a desperate attempt to fix the issue and regain power...While an emergency generator is believed to have kicked in, the ship never regained the use of its engines...Shortly before 01:30 (05:30 GMT), they issued a mayday call warning authorities that a collision was imminent...

Maryland Governor Wes Moore later hailed the crew as "heroes" and said that their quick response had "saved lives" because authorities were able to stop the flow of vehicle traffic on to the bridge in the two minutes between the call and the collision.

It did not, however, stop what happened when the Dali slammed into a concrete column on the 1.5-mile (2.4km) Francis Scott Key Bridge, which quickly collapsed into the dark, cold waters of the state's Patapsco River.

Six people - all believed to be members of a road crew working on the bridge - are presumed dead due to the water temperature and time that has passed...

What exactly led to the loss of power on board the Dali remains unclear.

Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said that investigators would now seek to examine data from a voyage data recorder...

While officials have repeatedly stressed that their focus remains on the search for the missing, experts have warned that the incident could also have a significant impact on the port of Baltimore, one of the busiest on the US east coast.

Maryland Senator Ben Cardin told reporters that the re-opening of the waterway would be "critical" for the US economy. The port is a key regional hub for goods ranging from steel and aluminium to agricultural equipment, and is used by car-makers including General Motors and Honda. Data from the Maryland Port Administration shows the port handled at least 750,000 vehicles last year.

"This will disrupt vessel schedules and strain handling capacities at other ports such as Philadelphia and Norfolk," said Mirko Woitzik, global director of intelligence for Everstream Analytics, which provides supply-chain services...

[President Biden said] that 15,000 US jobs "depend on that port"...

Authorities say that, for now, they are fully focused on the search and rescue operation...

This is not the first time the Dali has been involved in an incident. According to Vessel Finder, a tracking website, the ship was involved in another collision in the Belgian port of Antwerp in 2016. There were no injuries or significant damage reported at the time...

ENDS