Two years after Baltimore’s fatal bridge collapse, Indian-American chief engineer admits he made the mistake
On March 26, 2024, the container ship MV Dali left the Port of Baltimore bound for Sri Lanka. Shortly after leaving port, the ship lost power and struck a pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. A large section of the bridge collapsed into the river, killing six workers on the bridge. The accident became one of the United States’ worst maritime disasters.Two years after the accident, the then-chief engineer of the Dali Ship admitted that he failed to report the dangerous situation to the U.S. Coast Guard. Karthikeyan Deenadayalan, an Indian national and chief engineer of Dali Company, said that he knew that Dali Company used unsafe fuel supply pumps. According to Justice Department records, Deendayalan acknowledged that a lack of redundancy in unsafe pumps, known as flush pumps, compromised the vessel’s ability to safely navigate and recover after a power outage. He acknowledged that he was aware that an inability to recover from a power outage could adversely affect the safety of the ship itself, as well as any bridges, structures or coastal areas.
What is MV Dali?
MV Dali is a 900-foot foreign flag container ship registered in Singapore. Synergy Marine Pte Ltd (headquartered in Singapore) and Synergy Maritime Pte Ltd (headquartered in Chennai, India).
How did the accident happen?
The Daly lost power twice in four minutes as it sailed out of the Port of Baltimore, causing it to hit a foundation bridge. Loose wires in the high-voltage switchboard can cause the first outage. Critical systems on Dali were originally designed with reliable redundancy and automatic restart capabilities so that Dali can quickly restore power after an outage. But shortly after the ship regained power, it lost power again. The company that manages the Dali is said to have modified the ship and relies on flushing pumps to fuel two of the Dali’s four generators. However, the flushing pumps were not designed to automatically restart after a power outage, and the Dali’s generators were unable to operate without a fuel supply, so the ship eventually experienced a second blackout. If the “Dali” had used a proper fuel supply pump, the ship could have restored power in time and sailed safely under the key bridge.Earlier this year, the two companies and Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair, an Indian man who worked as a technical director at both companies, were charged with conspiracy, knowingly failing to immediately notify the U.S. Coast Guard of a known hazardous situation, obstructing agency proceedings, and making false statements.Dinardayaran’s admission came after the three entities were charged in federal court.
“Write a compelling email”
Deendayalan detailed conversations and correspondence he had with personnel from the two companies, including Nair, regarding the use of unsafe flushing pumps on the ships. Deendayalan said Nair instructed him to send a “convincing” email to the Dali’s charterers so that they would not ask additional questions about the Dali’s fuel consumption to prevent leaks and the use of flushing pumps.
