On May 20, 2024, the damaged container ship Dali was moved from the site of the Baltimore bridge collapse for the first time since the incident occurred on March 26. The ship had been partially blocking one of America's busiest ports and caused a catastrophic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, resulting in six fatalities.
The Dali, a 984-foot container ship, was moved about 2.5 miles to the Seagirt Marine Terminal with the help of up to five tugboats. The journey took approximately 3 hours.
Despite the successful refloating and moving of the Dali, its crew of 21 members remained stuck on board as part of an ongoing FBI investigation into the incident. All crew members, except one from Sri Lanka, were from India.
The Dali had struck one of the bridge's support columns during a routine transit through the harbor on March 26. The impact caused extensive damage to both the ship and bridge, leading to their respective collapses.
Six Marylanders who were killed in the incident were returned to their families with closure following an exhaustive search and recovery operation.
The Baltimore District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers oversaw the salvage operation, which involved removing some anchors and mooring lines attached to the ship after the crash, as well as pumping out some or all of the 1.25 million gallons of water that had been used to ballast it during bridge removal.
The Dali's refloating marked a significant milestone in the recovery process following this tragic incident.
