Indians are the unsung heroes of the Baltimore bridge 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.”
On 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. Maryland Governor Wes Moore says that it was the quick thinking of the 22-man crew, all of whom are Indian, that prevented more lives from being lost.
Stating that since the Indian crew issued a mayday call early, officials were able to stop vehicles from crossing the bridge. “Once notification came up that there was a mayday, literally by being able to stop cars from coming over the bridge,” Moore said.
“These people are heroes. They saved lives.”
So far all the members of the crew are believed to be unhurt and so far the death toll in what is being dubbed as the biggest maritime tragedy of 2024 has been put at eight.
Early on Tuesday, the Singapore-flagged container ship Dali had rammed into the Francis Scott Key bridge sited over Maryland’s Patapasco River. The Dali is owned by Grace Ocean Private Limited
According to local reports, the ship may have suffered from a loss of power before it struck the bridge. “In several Angles of CCTV Footage from this morning’s collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland; the Singaporean-Flagged Cargo Ship, M/V Dali which has been identified as the ship which impacted the bridge, can be seen suffering a total loss of power at least twice before the Crash,” tweeted OSINT on X.
The Maryland government has declared a state of emergency with Governor Wes Moore issuing a statement on Tuesday. “We are working with an interagency team to quickly deploy federal resources from the Biden administration,” Moore said.
