TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – The National Transportation Safety Board said in a press conference Wednesday night what is believed to have happened when a cargo ship collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, moments before the bridge collapsed into the water. was explained in detail.
The NTSB received six hours of Voyage Data Recorder (VDR) data from midnight to 6 a.m. on the day of the crash. The VDR shows a basic snapshot of what's happening, including the ship's speed, heading, RPM, and audio from the crew.
According to the NTSB, VDRs are required to keep a 30-day history. Six hours of data will be released to law enforcement immediately, and the rest will be obtained later.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said at a news conference that NTSB officials were on board the ship to retrieve information from electronic devices and documents and interview the captain and other crew members. There were 23 people on board the ship, including the two pilots, at the time of the crash.
Homendy said the ship was also carrying 56 containers containing hazardous materials such as corrosive materials, flammable materials and lithium-ion batteries. She added that some containers were damaged and the water's sheen caused by those substances would be taken care of by authorities.
The NTSB has released the following timeline of events, which is preliminary and subject to change as the investigation progresses.
- 12:39am:The ship has set sail.
- 1:07am: A ship has entered the shipping lane.
- 1:24am: A ship traveling at a heading of 141 at approximately 9.2 miles per hour.
- 1:24:59 a.m.: Recording of censored data was stopped, but recording of audio continued
- 1:26:02 a.m.: Resume sensor data recording
- 1:26:39 a.m.: The pilot radioed for a tugboat to rescue him.
- 1:27:04 a.m.: The pilot ordered to drop anchor.
- 1:27:25 a.m.: The pilot radioed that all power was lost and asked to close the bridge.
- 1:29am: The ship was traveling at less than 8 miles per hour.
- 1:29:33 a.m.: VDR records sounds consistent with a collision, dash cam shows bridge lights are out
- 1:29:39 a.m.: The pilot reported to the Coast Guard that the bridge was down.
Homendy added that the bridge is in satisfactory condition and the last destructive criticality test was carried out in May 2023. Fracture-critical bridges have no redundancy, and if one part of the structure fails, the entire structure ceases to function, she said.
This bridge was built in the late 1970s. Homendy said modern bridges are built with redundancy.
The sudden loss of a highway that carries 30,000 vehicles a day, disrupting a vital shipping port, could leave thousands of longshoremen and commuters across the United States feeling the effects of delivery delays. Consumers will also be affected.
The Port of Baltimore is a gateway along the East Coast for new cars made in Germany, Mexico, Japan, and Britain, along with coal and farm equipment.
Vessel access to and from the port has been suspended indefinitely. Maritime risk management firm Windward Maritime said its data shows a significant increase in ships waiting to enter ports, with some docked outside Baltimore and near Annapolis.
At a White House press briefing, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the Biden administration is focused on reopening ports and rebuilding bridges completed in 1977, but declined to set a timeline for those efforts. The original bridge took him five years to complete, he noted.
Homendy said the NTSB's investigation could take 12 to 24 months, during which time the agency could issue urgent safety recommendations. Preliminary reports are expected to be received by him within two to four weeks.
“It's a huge investigation,” Homendy said. “It's a very tragic event.”
According to the World Water Transport Infrastructure Association, from 1960 to 2015, there were 35 major bridge collapses worldwide due to ship or barge collisions.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.