The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Tuesday it is prosecuting a ship operator who crashed a cargo vessel and collapsed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore over two years ago, leading to the death of six construction workers.
The DOJ is charging a ship technical superintendent, Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair, an Indian national, with conspiracy, obstruction of an agency proceeding, willfully failing to inform the Coast Guard of a hazardous condition, and making false statements. Federal prosecutors are also charging foreign companies Synergy Marine Pte Ltd and Synergy Maritime Pte Ltd. (RELATED: Ship That Knocked Down Baltimore Bridge Had Previous Accident, Past Hardware Issue)
The two companies are also facing charges for misdemeanor violations of the Clean Water Act, the Oil Pollution Act, and the Refuse Act, according to the DOJ. These charges relate to the pollution of the Patapsco River following the initial crash and the bridge’s collapse.
“The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge was a preventable tragedy of enormous consequence,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “This indictment is a critical step toward holding accountable those whose reckless disregard for maritime safety regulations caused this disaster.”
“Six construction workers lost their lives, critical infrastructure was destroyed, pollutants were released into the Patapsco River and Chesapeake Bay, and the economic damage now exceeds five billion dollars,” Blanche added. “This Department is committed to securing justice for the victims and ensuring those responsible are held to account.”
The ship — known as the Dali — lost power twice within four minutes as it navigated the port leading up to the crash, with the indictment alleging that a loose wire in a high-voltage switchboard likely caused the outage. Backup systems designed to restart the ship quickly helped the vessel regain power, but the operators allegedly altered the ship to rely instead on a flushing pump to power the generators. (RELATED: ‘The Whole Bridge Just Fell Down!’: Shocking Dispatch Audio Released After Baltimore Bridge Collapse)
The flushing pump was not designed to restart automatically following the blackout, resulting in the second blackout and the subsequent crash, according to the indictment. Had the pumps been deployed to supply fuel to the generators, the catastrophe could have been avoided altogether.
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