The massive cargo ship that brought down Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge was finally refloated and escorted back to port Monday.
The Dali had sat in the Patapsco River for nearly two months, ensnared by a heap of wreckage from the Key Bridge. The ship’s crew was forced to remain on board the entire time but was finally allowed to exit the ship when it returned to port Monday.
Crews pulled up anchor and pumped out more than 1 million gallons of water that had kept the ship grounded and stable. The Dali backed away from the site and was escorted in by tugboats. It moved slowly Monday, as its bow was still covered in damaged shipping containers and collapsed steel and concrete.
As the Dali made its way back to port, it revealed a gaping hole above the water line on its starboard side. The ship will undergo partial repairs while docked at the Port of Baltimore before it is moved to a shipyard for more extensive work.
The Dali struck the Key Bridge around 1:30 a.m. on March 26, unable to change course after it lost power twice while approaching the bridge. Six construction workers repairing potholes on the bridge were killed when the entire structure plummeted into the water. All six victims were Latino immigrants.
Before leaving port, the ship had two electrical blackouts, which prompted the crew to switch to a different electrical system that hadn’t been used for months, according to a preliminary National Transportation Safety Board investigation. That was the system which failed as the Dali approached the bridge.
Workers have now spent several weeks cleaning up the wreckage, including a controlled demolition on May 13 that broke up the largest remaining span of the bridge, which was draped across the Dali’s bow.
With News Wire Services
