A racist cartoon depicting the reactions of the Indian crew on board the Dali ship, seconds before it hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, has caused an uproar on social media. The image produced by US-based Foxford Comics showed members of the crew wearing loincloths, accompanied by uttered profanities in a background audio. It was tweeted on X on March 27. The caption above the image simply stated, “last known recording from inside the Dali moments before impact.”
Eminent economist Sanjeev Sanyal reacted to the racist cartoon. Tweeting on X he said that “at the time that the ship hit the bridge, it would have had a local pilot. In any case, the crew had warned the authorities which is why the casualties were relatively few (for such a disaster). But, hey, why give up a chance to do racist cartoons. The mayor in fact thanked the Indian crew as “heroes” for raising an alarm that limited casualties.”
The owner of Foxford Comics did not comment.
The incident comes despite the fact the Indian crew on board the ship have been seen as the heroes of this maritime tragedy. During his comments at the White House regarding the Baltimore bridge collapse, President Joe Biden said, “Personnel on board the ship were able to alert the Maryland Department of Transportation that they had lost control of their vessel prompting the local authorities to close the bridge to traffic before the catastrophic was impact, a move which “undoubtedly” saved lives.”
Maryland Governor Wes Moore added to this, stating it was the quick thinking of the crew, almost all of whom are believed to be Indian, that prevented more lives from being lost.
Last Tuesday, the 948-foot-long ship, the Dali, crashed into a pillar in the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore causing the entire bridge to collapse into the sea. According to a preliminary timeline outlined by the National Transportation Safety Board, the ship sent out a mayday call, which gave just enough time for authorities to close the bridge to traffic and likely prevented further deaths.
The lead pilot also dropped an anchor, issued steering commands and called for help from nearby tugboats, according to a preliminary timeline outlined by the National Transportation Safety Board. They added that since the ship lost power at 1:25 am minutes before the crash there was little or nothing the crew could have done to prevent the tragedy.
A Washington Post report states that due to required US regulations, the two pilots steering the ship at the time were American. The other members of the 22-man crew were Indian.
