Baltimore bridge, searches stopped. The ship’s captain “did everything he could” –

Searches suspended. The six workers missing following the accident that caused the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore yesterday are presumed dead. The US Coast Guard made this known by announcing the suspension of the search for survivors. The six missing people were engaged in repair work. Among them are citizens of Guatemalan and Mexican origin. As the investigation into the deadly incident continues, the U.S. Coast Guard is examining thirteen damaged shipping containers – some containing potentially hazardous materials – that were on board. According to a US government document obtained by CNN, which also cites a US official familiar with the matter, the damaged containers, “some with contents involving the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and/or hazardous materials ( HAZMAT)” are being examined by an elite Coast Guard team, according to a memo from the Federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

But why did the Dali cargo ship, owned by Grace Ocean PTE and visited at least 27 times in ports around the world since it was built in 2015, lose control and crash into the bridge pylon? The pilot did “everything he could do” to slow the ship and prevent it from drifting toward the bridge, Clay Diamond, executive director and general counsel of the American Pilots Association, told CNN. Diamond has been in close communication with the Maryland Pilots Association about what happened on the Dali freighter in the moments leading up to the crash. “A few minutes before the command bridge, the ship suffered a total blackout, meaning it lost engine power and electrical power, a complete blackout,” Diamond told CNN. At that point, according to Diamond, the pilot did “everything he could do” to slow the ship and prevent it from drifting to the right, towards the bridge. The pilot quickly issued a series of orders, calling for strong port rudder, as far to port as possible, and to drop anchor. Additionally, Diamond said he was the pilot who contacted the pilot dispatch office to close traffic to the bridge.

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“These were all appropriate steps, but it happened so quickly and with so little time available… none of these maneuvers were enough,” said Diamond who underlined that, while the ship’s lights came back on – probably due to the activation of an emergency generator after the initial blackout – the ship’s engines never restarted.