The ship that caused the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore with experience two blackouts before hitting the bridge, according to a new preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The report, released Tuesday, found that the Dali container ship, which collided with the bridge, was 0.6 miles away from it when “when the electrical circuit breakers… that powered most of the equipment and lighting of the vessel opened unexpectedly.”
“This caused the first blackout (loss of electrical power) in all of the ship’s lighting and most of the equipment, including the main engine cooling water pumps (which controlled the engine cooling water pressure) and the engine cooling water pumps. rudder,” the report said.
Later, the ship’s crew managed to restore “the ship’s electrical power,” but when the ship was 0.2 miles from the Key Bridge, it suffered another blackout. From there, the crew was able to restore the ship’s power, but it had no propulsion. The “starboard bow of the ship struck pier no. 17 from the Key Bridge at 6.5 knots” soon after.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is expected to hold a hearing on the federal response to the Key Bridge collapse on Wednesday, the committee said in a news release last week.
“Transportation and Infrastructure Committee [Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.)] announced that the full Committee will hold a hearing with witnesses from federal agencies to discuss the ongoing investigation into the DALI motor vessel alliance with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland and the federal response to the incident,” the press release says.
The hearing will take place next Wednesday at 10 a.m. and will feature witnesses including National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Administrator Shailen Bhatt, according to the communicated.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
