Ship’s black box recovered after Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse: officials

Officials investigating the ship crash that caused Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge to collapse early Tuesday have recovered the vessel’s black box data recorder.

National Transport Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy told reporters Wednesday that the black box will help investigators create a timeline of events outlining what went wrong when the Dali cargo ship crashed into the bridge.

“We’ve sent that to our lab and we hope to be able to share a timeline of events that did occur based on that data and be able to provide some sort of concrete information about whether there was a power outage or not later today,” Homenday told WGAL. 

A black box, also known as an event data recorder, maintains a log of a vehicle’s data and is often used by investigators, law enforcement, and insurance companies to gain insight into what happened in the moments leading up to a collision.    

The Dali’s black box is likely to provide answers on what caused the ship to lose control after it left the Port of Baltimore after 1 a.m., with its lights seen flickering on and off minutes before the incident.

A harbor pilot and assistant also reported power issues and a loss of propulsion prior to the collision, according to a Coast Guard briefing report.

Homendy said a team of two dozen investigators is in Baltimore to review the black box data, interview the ship’s crew, and review the operations and safety record of the Dali, its owner and operator, and the bridge. 

A preliminary report of the crash is expected to be released within two to four weeks, but a final report could take up to two years to complete, Homendy added. 

Sources familiar with the probe say officials are also looking into whether contaminated fuel played a role in the crash, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Such fuel is capable of creating problems with a ship’s main power generators, resulting in a blackout, said Fotis Pagoulatos, a naval architect. 

Pagoulatos said a complete blackout can cause a ship to lose propulsion, forcing smaller generators to kick in. The smaller generators, however, are unable to carry all the functions of the main ones and take time to start. 

The sequence appears to fall in line with what occurred on the Dali, which was seen billowing black smoke when its lights initially shut off before the crash. 

An officer aboard the Singapore-owned ship said the vessel “went dead,” with the crew unable to steer it, according to the WSJ. 

“One of the engines coughed and then stopped. The smell of burned fuel was everywhere in the engine room and it was pitch black,” the officer added.