BALTIMORE — Recovery from the deadly Baltimore bridge collapse reached a major milestone Monday as the ill-fated container ship Dali was slowly escorted back to port, its damaged bow still covered in broken shipping containers, fallen steel trusses and mangled concrete.
Almost two months have passed since Dali’s day. lost power and crashed into one of the bridge’s support columns, killing six construction workers and halting much of the maritime traffic through the Port of Baltimore.
Refloated at high tide on Monday morning, the ship slowly moved away from the scene of the March 26 disaster under the guidance of several tugboats. Extensive damage to her bow included a huge gaping hole above the waterline on her starboard side.
The removal of the huge ship opened up a new void in Baltimore skyline, which has lost an iconic landmark and symbol of the city’s proud maritime history. The altered water landscape also highlighted the progress made in cleanup; Crews have already cleared away thousands of tons of twisted steel that was once visible sticking out of the water’s surface.
The bodies of six victims were recovered from underwater debris – all Latin American immigrants who came to the United States in search of work. They spent the night shift filling potholes when the bridge was destroyed.
Officials said Daly would be traveling at about 1 mph on the roughly 2.5-mile (4-kilometer) journey back to port, a fraction of the speed he was traveling when he lost power and collapsed the bridge. It will spend a few weeks making temporary repairs at the same marine terminal it occupied before setting off on its ill-fated voyage, before moving to a shipyard for more extensive repairs.
To refloat the Dali, crews released the anchors and pumped out more than 1 million gallons of water, which kept the ship grounded and steady during the difficult cleanup effort. The crews conducted controlled demolition May 13 to destroy the largest remaining span of the collapsed bridge spanning the bow of the Dali. The dive teams then confirmed that the way was clear.
Dali survived two power outage approximately 10 hours before leaving the port of Baltimore en route to Sri Lanka. The crew later made changes to the ship’s electrical configuration, switching to a transformer and switch system that had previously been unused for several months, according to a preliminary report released last week by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Two more power outages left the Dali stranded and off course as it approached the Key Bridge. By then, the two tugs that had taken the Dali out of port had moved away from it (normal protocol, according to the report), but when the power went out, the tugs were cut off. too far help prevent a disaster.
The FBI also launched crime investigation about the circumstances that led to the disaster.
The ship’s crew members were not allowed to leave the ship. Officials said they were busy maintaining the ship and assisting investigators and would be able to go ashore as soon as the Dali docked.
Officials plan to reopen the port’s 50-foot-deep (15-meter) channel by the end of May. In the meantime, crews have built a temporary channel that is slightly shallower.