The remains of a fourth construction worker have been recovered from the site of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, as efforts continue to remove thousands of tons of debris from the March 26 incident.
According to the multi-agency Unified Command overseeing the recovery effort, rescue crews located the victim inside a submerged vehicle believed to be part of Hunt Valley, Maryland, contractor Brawner’s concrete repair setup Builders Inc. at 1,200 feet from the bridge. -Long main beam when the 985-foot-long cargo ship M/V Dali collided with a support pylon, causing the nearly 50-year-old truss structure to fall into the Patapsco River.
The identity of the deceased worker has been withheld at the request of the family, according to the unified command. Two victims from the eight-person task force remain missing and are presumed dead. The bodies of three workers were previously recovered, while two others survived the incident.
Gov. Wes Moore (D) said at a news conference on April 16 that in the three weeks since the sinking, a concerted effort involving more than 370 people operating from an armada of more than 80 assets carried by the water has removed 1,100 tons of what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Baltimore District estimates is 50,000 tons of steel and concrete, most of it submerged in the river’s murky waters .
Two days earlier, the massive Chesapeake 1000 crane, one of the largest of its kind on the East Coast, made its first lift: a 450-ton section from Bridge Span 19, located just north of Dali on the ground. Another 300-ton lift was being prepared as Governor Moore and other officials addressed the media. The recovered components are being processed for recycling at a logistics center near the water on the site of a former Bethlehem steel plant, where the steel for the Key Bridge was made in the decade from 1970
Governor Moore noted that despite the complexity of working amid the tangled wreckage and limited underwater visibility over the past three weeks, the recovery effort has not seen any injuries. Calling it “a remarkable achievement,” he praised the Unified Command for “working efficiently and safely.”
The removal of the large section marked an important step toward the Corps’ goal of removing enough debris by the end of April to establish a 35-foot-deep, 280-foot-wide limited-access channel within the existing federal deep draft of the junction. navigation channel The passage will provide a one-way traffic corridor in and out of the Port of Baltimore for barge container service and some roll-on/displacement vessels. Two temporary shallow channels established early in the recovery effort have provided access to crane barges, crew boats and other vessels involved in the salvage effort, as well as commercially essential vessels.
Governor Moore said that approximately 40 of the 4,700 containers on board the Dali have been removed to gain access to the large section of the bridge lodged against the ship’s bow. Although more than 50 containers are reported to contain hazardous materials, upstream and downstream water sampling by Maryland state environmental officials has found no evidence of contamination.
The Corps is hopeful that removing the bridge section, estimated to weigh several thousand tons, will allow the Dali to be refloated and safely towed to port, allowing the full reopening of the federal shipping channel to end of May
“A fully open federal channel remains our primary goal, and we will carry out this work with care and precision, with safety as our top priority,” USACE commanding general Lt. Gen. Scott A. Spellmon said in a communicated He admitted that “ambitious timelines … may still be affected by significant adverse weather conditions or changes in the complexity of the remains.”
Expansion of investigations
Meanwhile, the National Transportation Board (NTSB) continues its investigation into the incident, with the goal of issuing a preliminary report in early May. Testifying before a Senate committee considering her reappointment as board chairwoman, Jennifer Homendy said investigators were looking into the Dali’s electrical system and whether it might have contributed to the ship’s apparent loss of power and propulsion moments. before the collision.
Representatives from Hyundai, the manufacturer of the electrical system, are working with NTSB engineers to examine the engine room equipment, Homendy said, adding that because the investigation is still in its early stages, “it could take different roads, different paths as we go on.”
Investigators have also interviewed Dalí crew members and recovered the ship’s data recorder, which Homendy noted provides only a “snapshot” of operations, rather than the more detailed recorders found on commercial aircraft.
On April 15, FBI agents boarded the Dali to conduct “court-authorized law enforcement activities” as part of what is believed to be a criminal investigation into the cabbage · lesion The bureau’s press operations unit declined to provide further information or comment.
Days after President Joe Biden vowed to “move heaven and earth” to rebuild the Key Bridge as soon as possible, Maryland’s congressional delegation introduced bills in the House and Senate to ensure funding full federal funding for the planned multibillion-dollar project, following the example of restoring the Interstate 35 bridge in Minneapolis after its 2007 collapse.
In addition to pledging a bipartisan effort to secure funding for the replacement bridge, Governor Moore is committed to holding responsible parties accountable after a thorough investigation into the cause of the collapse has concluded.
“Accountability is imperative at this time,” said Governor Moore.
Dali’s owner, Grace Ocean Private Ltd, and its manager, Synergy Marine Group, as well as its charterer and manufacturer, already face the possibility of lawsuits from Baltimore City, which has hired two law firms to help seek economic and financial compensation. environmental damage resulting from the incident. Jeffrey P. Goodman, a partner in one of the firms, was the co-lead counsel for the victims of the deadly 2021 Surfside condominium collapse in Florida.
Grace Ocean and Synergy have already filed a petition in federal court citing previous interpretations of US open water and navigation law that would limit their liability for the collision to $43.67 million, the net present value estimate of the ship’s companies and the cargo less the repair and salvage costs.
