PUNCH
The Francis Scott Key Bridge in the US city of Baltimore collapsed after a ship collided with it, the Maryland Transportation Authority said early Tuesday.
“I-695 Key Bridge collapse due to ship strike,” the MTA posted on social media platform X, referring to the interstate highway.
It urged drivers to avoid the route over the Patapsco River, which it called an “active scene”.
Earlier, the MTA had said interstate lanes in both directions were closed due to an “incident” on the bridge, and that traffic was being redirected.
A police spokesperson from the Baltimore Police Department told NBC News that people were possibly in the river.
However, in this report, PUNCH Online highlights nine key things to know about the ill-fated ship as culled from AFP.
1. The ship that caused the collapse of a key bridge in Baltimore is named Dali container ship and was recently built to sail under Singapore’s flag.
2. It was constructed by the Korean Hyundai shipyard in 2015 and is 300 metres long (985 feet), 48 metres wide and 24.8 metres tall, with gross tonnage of 95,000 tonnes, making it an average-sized container ship.
3. It had left Baltimore port at 1 am local time Tuesday for a roughly month-long voyage to Colombo in Sri Lanka, according to the site Marine Traffic. It hit the bridge at 1:28 am.
4. The ship belongs to Singapore-based Grace Ocean Pte Ltd, which is owned by a Hong Kong group, and was carrying containers on behalf of Danish shipping giant Maersk.
5. Synergy Marine, the Singapore company that operates the Dali, said it was being controlled by two Baltimore port pilots at the time of the collision.
6. There were 22 crew members on board, according to the port of Singapore, and none were injured, according to Synergy, which also says no leaking has been detected.
7. The Dali frequently links Asian ports with the East Coast of the United States and passes through the Panama Canal on March 13 before stopping at New York, Norfolk, and finally, Baltimore.
8. In 2016, soon after commissioning, the Dali accidentally hit a dock in the Belgian port of Antwerp, according to the sites Vessel Finder and Shipwrecklog.
9. It can hold up to 8,344 cubic metres (2.2 million gallons) of fuel, according to Marine Traffic. It is insured by UK-based Britannia.
THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED IN PUNCH
