US indicts two foreign operators, individual in 2024 collapse of Baltimore Key Bridge

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, May 12 (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday that a grand jury indicted two foreign operators and a shoreside superintendent in the March 2024 collision of the 984-foot cargo ship Dali that destroyed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge and killed six construction workers.

Separately, Maryland State Attorney General Anthony Brown said the state reached a final settlement of $2.25 billion with Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine Pte Ltd, the owner and operator of the Dali ahead of a June 1 trial date. The settlement does not resolve Maryland’s claims against the shipbuilder, Hyundai Heavy Industries.

The Justice Department said the collision caused at least $5 billion in damage and significant environmental damage. The National Transportation Safety Board last year found a single loose wire in the electrical system caused a breaker to unexpectedly open, launching a sequence of events that led to two vessel blackouts and a loss of propulsion and steering.

The Dali’s operators — Synergy Marine Pte Ltd, based in Singapore, and Synergy Maritime Pte Ltd based in Chennai, India along with Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair, 47, an Indian national who worked for both firms as the technical superintendent for the Dali, are charged with conspiracy, willfully failing to immediately inform the U.S. Coast Guard of a known hazardous condition, obstruction of an agency proceeding, and false statements.

Prosecutors said Nair is believed to be in India.

The two Synergy companies said in a statement they would defend themselves against the charges, saying the NTSB had determined the cause was “a defect outside of Synergy Marine’s control.” They added they were deeply disappointed in the criminal charges suggesting the NTSB and other evidence “clearly refutes any allegations of wrongdoing by the Dali crew.”

Synergy Marine added it was troubled the Justice Department has kept the Dali crew members in the U.S. for over two years “despite evidence that their actions were timely and reasonable under the circumstances.”

The three were charged with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and with causing the death of six construction workers on the bridge, among other charges including providing false statements and documents to the NTSB.

The two Synergy corporations are also charged with violations of the Clean Water Act, Oil Pollution Act, and Refuse Act for the discharge of pollutants into the Patapsco River.

According to the indictment, the Dali lost power twice in a four-minute span, as it was leaving the Port of Baltimore, causing it to crash into the Key Bridge.

The Justice Department said the defendants are accused of relying on a flushing pump to supply fuel to two of the Dali’s four generators but the flushing pump was not designed to automatically restart following a blackout, and the Dali’s generators could not operate without a fuel supply.

The indictment alleged that if the Dali was using proper fuel supply pumps, the vessel would have regained power in time to safely navigate under the bridge.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Nick Zieminski)