Cargo Ship That Collided With Baltimore Bridge Was Involved in a Previous Collision

The massive cargo ship responsible for the bridge collapse in Baltimore on Tuesday, had a previous, similar incident on its record, reports USA Today.

The Dali, a larger container ship operated by Singaporean firm Synergy Marine Group, previously ran into a loading pier in Antwerp in 2016 as it was attempting to leave the port, the newspaper reports. Nobody was injured as a result of that incident, although the front of the boat was damaged. An investigation blamed the ship’s pilot and master for errors that led to the crash.

USA Today sourced its information from VesselFinder.com.

The Dali struck the Francis Scott Key bridge near Baltimore in Maryland early morning Tuesday. The bridge, which spans the Patapsco River, subsequently collapsed. At least two people have been rescued and six people are currently missing as a result of the incident and are presumed dead. Several cars fell into the river as the bridge collapsed. The ship had left Baltimore harbor and was headed to Sri Lanka at the time of the crash.

Since the crash, conspiracy theories have already taken flight online, with conservative pundits and commentators claiming that some nefarious plot may have been orchestrated to engender the crash. Some have speculated that the ship may have been hacked, but there’s no evidence to support that.

Little is known about what happened to the ship to cause it to veer into the bridge. The ship is said to have lost power before it crashed into a column supporting the bridge.

Clay Diamond, executive director of the American Pilots’ Association, who spoke with USA Today about the collision, noted the “unusual” nature of the incident: “It’s likely that virtually every pilot in the country has experienced a power loss of some kind (but) it generally is momentary,” Diamond said. “This was a complete blackout of all the power on the ship, so that’s unusual. Of course, this happened at the worst possible location.”

Gizmodo reached out to Synergy Marine Group for comment and will update this story if it responds.