The collision caused the bridge to crumble into the Patapsco River below and killed six people on March 26, 2024, in Baltimore.
The federal indictment unsealed Tuesday accuses two corporations and the ship’s technical operator of causing the death of the construction workers and the collapse of the bridge.
Hours after the criminal indictment was unsealed Tuesday, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown on a $2.25 billion settlement between the state of Maryland and the owner and operator of the Dali 鈥� which is accused of wrongdoing in the indictment.
According to the indictment, the collision’s fallout has caused at least a $5 billion loss.
In the aftermath of the crash, divers worked to retrieve bodies from the river and eventually to clean up large fragments of debris. Baltimore suffered economic losses as its port was closed for two months.
The process of rebuilding will cost an estimated $4-5 billion and a new bridge is slated to be open in 2030, according to Maryland offiials. In the meantime, the bridge’s absence has disrupted the lives of commuters who relied on the passageway.
Indictment says operator misrepresented ship’s safety
Federal prosecutors announced the indictment along the waterfront in Baltimore, naming Synergy Marine Pte Ltd., based in Singapore, and Synergy Maritime Pte Ltd., based in Chennai, India.
The two corporations and Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair, 47, the ship’s technical superintendent, have been charged with conspiracy to defraud the U.S., obstruction and providing false statements.
“They forged safety inspections and certifications. They falsely claimed the ship was in good working order, and then lied to investigators about their actions when they were questioned,” said Jimmy Paul, special agent in charge for the FBI Baltimore Field Office.
The ship, named the Dali, lost power twice in the moments leading up to the collision on March 26, 2024. A loose wire in a switchboard reportedly caused the first outage.
According to prosecutors, the ship was set up to automatically regain power after a blackout. But the defendants are accused of relying on a flushing pump to power two of the four generators on board.
The flushing pump isn’t made to automatically restart, according to the indictment.
“Instead, it needed to be manually restarted when the flushing pump was not restarted in time,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Kelly Hayes said. “After that first blackout, the ship’s two running generators became starved of fuel, causing a second blackout.”
Prosecutors allege that if the ship used its proper fuel supply pumps, it could have regained power before striking the bridge.
Paul said the ship’s operator and Nair failed to document, investigate and report significant safety risks and hazards aboard the Dali.
“Nair and others took steps to hide the use of the flushing pump on the Dali both before and after the crash,” Hayes said. “The indictment further alleges that after the crash, Nair falsely told the National Transportation Safety Board that he was unaware that the Dali was using the flushing pump.”
The charges follow a yearslong FBI investigation that involved two dozen search warrants, including those executed onboard the vessel and its sister ship, around 200 interviews with witnesses and reviewing terabytes of data.
Prosecutors allege the group failed聽to report safety risks to the U.S. Coast Guard.
“Pieces of the bridge, vehicles and other debris that fell into the Patapsco River, which is used in international commerce, polluted it and obstructed its navigability,” said Jeffrey Hall, the assistant administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance at the Environmental Protection Agency.
Both corporations have also been charged with misdemeanors related to alleged violations of environmental policies from dumping pollutants into the Patapsco River.
“Although we are fortunate that not all of the hazardous materials escaped their containers, some materials did, including oil and other chemicals,” Hall said.
Hall said the ship was carrying 760 tons of hazardous materials.
EPA agents helped assess the threat in the immediate aftermath of the crash and worked alongside the FBI and the Coast Guard in the investigation.
Hayes said law enforcement will work to bring Nair back to the U.S. from India to face the charges.
Questions on future of civil case amid $2.25 billion settlement and criminal indictment
The charges comes as the state of Maryland has reached a final settlement with Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine Pte Ltd., the ship’s owner and operator. The settlement in principle was reached back in April.
Brown’s office said it still plans to pursue claims against the shipbuilder, Hyundai Heavy Industries.
The loved ones of the victims weren’t involved in that settlement.
It’s unclear how the indictment could impact their ongoing civil case that’s scheduled to go to trial on June 1 in U.S. District Court.
A group that includes families of the victims, the city government, Baltimore Gas and Electric and local business are suing the ship’s operator, , which was first to report on the federal indictment.
The men killed during the crash were construction workers repairing potholes on the bridge.
Attorney Daniel Rose, who represents four of the victims’ families as well as the survivor, told reporters the decision on what will happen with the civil case lands on Judge James Bredar.
It’s possible the judge will rule the civil trial needs to be paused until the criminal case moves through the courts.
Less than three weeks away from the scheduled trial date, another attorney representing the families called the events Tuesday a “bombshell.”
“We’re going to trial on a 175-year-old law that was last used with the Titanic, that’s what we’re battling and they instituted limitation of liability for these families, preventing justice and today we find out the truth,” attorney Christopher Stewart said.
The companies that run the Dali filed a 鈥渓imitation of liability鈥� petition about a week after the collapse. The filing initially sought to cap the corporations’ liability at $43.6 million under a maritime law from 1851.
Hayes said that civil lawsuit is considered a separate matter from the criminal charges unsealed Tuesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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