FBI opens criminal probe in Baltimore bridge collapse; fourth body
recovered
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[April 16, 2024]
By Susan Heavey, Brendan O'Brien and Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The FBI said on Monday it opened a criminal probe
into the collapse of a Baltimore bridge in March when a ship crashed
into a bridge support, while local officials confirmed the recovery of a
fourth body from the incident.
FBI agents boarded the cargo ship Dali to conduct court-authorized law
enforcement activity regarding the crash, an FBI spokesperson said. The
spokesperson said there was no other public information available and
the bureau will have no further comment.
The body of a fourth victim was recovered on Monday after divers spotted
what they believed to be a missing construction vehicle, inside which
they found the body, the Key Bridge Unified Command said in a statement.
Details surrounding the victim's identity were not made public at the
request of family.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River in the
early morning of March 26, killing six men who were working on the span
at the time, after the massive container ship lost power and crashed
into a support pylon. The bodies of two victims are still missing.
The investigation into the collapse will focus in part on whether the
crew of the Dali left the port knowing the freighter had serious
problems with its systems, the Washington Post reported earlier.
Safety investigators have recovered the ship's "black box" recorder,
which provides data on its position, speed, heading, radar, and bridge
audio and radio communications, as well as alarms.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Apr/16/images/ads/current/atlantaag_sda_SFARM_2024.png)
The city of Baltimore said on Monday it hired two law firms - DiCello
Levitt and Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky Trial Lawyers - as it considered
litigation against the owner, charterer and operator of the ship.
The registered owner of the Singapore-flagged ship is Grace Ocean Pte
Ltd. Synergy Marine Group managed the ship and Maersk chartered the
vessel.
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![](../images/041624PIX/news_l21.jpg)
View of the Dali cargo vessel which crashed into the Francis Scott
Key Bridge causing it to collapse in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.,
April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Apr/16/images/ads/current/graue_lda_BuickEnvision3244_041524.jpg)
The head of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board separately
told Congress last week that its investigators had interviewed key
cargo ship personnel as part of its probe.
Work to clear the wreckage and restore traffic through the Baltimore
port's shipping channel continues.
Replacing the bridge will likely take years, but authorities have
opened two temporary channels to allow some shallow-draft vessels to
move around the stricken container vessel. The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers said two weeks ago that it expected to open a new channel
to the Port of Baltimore by the end of April.
When the crash occurred, the Dali was leaving Baltimore en route to
Colombo, Sri Lanka, with a crew of 21, plus two pilots on board to
guide it out of the port.
The same ship was involved in an incident in the port of Antwerp,
Belgium, in 2016, when it hit a quay as it tried to exit a North Sea
container terminal.
An inspection in June 2023 carried out in San Antonio, Chile, found
the vessel had propulsion and auxiliary machinery deficiencies,
according to data on the public Equasis website, which provides
information on ships.
According to Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority, the vessel
passed foreign-port inspections last June and September.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Brendan O'Brien, Kanishka Singh and
Diana Jones; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Jonathan Oatis and Leslie
Adler)
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