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The trapped cargo ship Dali will “hopefully” be refloated this week, officials said after authorities launched a chargeback Monday night on the main section of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. .
This charge helped destroy some of the bridge debris that had been placed on top of the ship. This was a move aimed at freeing the ship nearly seven weeks after it hit a bridge and caused the span to collapse. During the planned explosion, chunks of the collapsed structure appeared to break away from the ship and fall into the water, but some of the debris remained on top of the ship, video showed.
Col. Estee Pinchacin of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told reporters that authorities are “very satisfied” with the dismantling, but that divers will be calling to see if anything fell on the cargo ship’s hull and caused damage. He said he plans to conduct an investigation. In addition, before refloating the ship, authorities need to ensure all charges are cleared, Pinchasin said.
After the assault began, a loud explosion rang out and black smoke surrounded the wreckage.
Pinchasin said a “huge amount of steel” had been removed from Dali. The colonel said authorities will now investigate how the remaining debris became attached to the ship’s bow. Teams are ready to move the remaining debris, but Pinchasin does not believe any more explosives will be used, she said.
The targeted explosion occurred just after 5 p.m. ET after the operation was postponed over the weekend due to severe weather conditions, including lightning.
Demolition work, which includes using small explosives to break up a huge chunk of the Baltimore Bridge where a cargo ship collapsed about seven weeks ago, was originally scheduled for Saturday but was postponed due to bad weather. Officials were forced to postpone the work to Sunday before it could finally be carried out. The Coast Guard said plans were rescheduled for Monday.
U.S. Coast Guard Capt. David O’Connell said that after the necessary assessments and investigations, the plan is to remove the ballast, make the ship buoyant under its own power, and use four tugboats to hoist it into the channel and escort it to the pier. Stated.
Additional debris and containers will be removed from Dali at the pier, and the ship will undergo necessary temporary repairs before more permanent repairs are made.
“We hope to have Dali resurfaced within the next few days. We expect to have the full channel open by the end of this month,” O’Connell said.
The 213 million pound Dali cargo ship veered off course on March 26 and struck a column on the Francis Scott Key Bridge, sending it tumbling into the Patapsco River below.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Explosives detonated a section of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge carrying the container ship Dali on Monday in Baltimore.
The collapse killed six construction workers, destroyed a major thoroughfare, and threatened the Port of Baltimore’s economy. It also led to multiple investigations into what went wrong and who was to blame. The demolition, scheduled for Monday, comes days before a Wednesday hearing scheduled by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, including the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board and officials from the Coast Guard, Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Department of Transportation. They are scheduled to testify.
“We will never sacrifice safety for speed,” Coast Guard Officer Nick Ameen said Sunday of weather delays. “When lightning struck that area, the clock’s hands moved backwards, and the clock kept going off and on.”
Last week, authorities began demolition work after the body of the sixth victim was recovered from the water.
Darrell Wilson, a spokesman for Synergy Marine Group, which manages the Dali, said the ship’s 21-member crew had not left the ship for about seven weeks after it hit the bridge, but remained on board during the operation. It is said that he was The crew “all are safe and remain on standby to assist in the response,” Wilson said.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Salvage workers work to remove debris from the Dali on May 8, six weeks after the cargo ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland.
“The safest and quickest way to remove the bridge piece”
“The safest and quickest way to remove the bridge section from the top of the M/V Dali is through a precise cut with a small amount of charge,” the Major Bridge Response Unified Command said in a news release last week.
“This is an industry-standard tool in controlled demolition that breaks the span into smaller pieces, allowing operations to refloat the vessel and remove it from federal waterways,” it added.
The U.S. Army and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in an infographic that demolition efforts would “look like multiple plumes of smoke and sound like fireworks.” Nearby communities will receive “cell phone notifications” in advance, including state and federal authorities, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers, Unified Command said.
While engineers work through the logistics of removing the tangled metal debris to free the Dali, members of the Baltimore seafaring community remain concerned for the safety of the crew, given the length of time they were on board. ing.
“The crew will have a safe place on board to evacuate while the explosion is controlled,” Synergy Marine Group’s Wilson said, adding that despite the stress of recent weeks, “It’s holding up well,” he added.
“Even though it’s not sailing, it’s performing normal crew duties,” Wilson said. “This is still a large, complex device, and there are a lot of things you have to take care of.”
The Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union and the Singapore Seafarers’ Organization issued a joint statement over the weekend, saying they were concerned about the “potential criminalization” of the ship’s seafarers as the investigation progresses.
The Rev. Josh Messick, executive director of the Baltimore International Seafarers Center, told CNN that the crew members are well taken care of, but feel cut off from the rest of the world. They have access to the internet thanks to hotspots provided by Messick’s group, but they don’t have cell phones.
Messick said the FBI seized the crew’s cellphones as part of the investigation. That leaves crew members separated from their families and unable to access critical resources, the union said.
“They’re feeling a little anxious because of the phone situation. We’re trying to get their phones back,” Messick said. “It’s more than just a phone; she can’t access her banking, finances, contacts online, and she can’t see photos of her loved ones before she goes to bed at night. It’s more than just a phone.”
The union said its representatives were on board the Dali in April to ensure the health of the crew. They are seeking visa extensions or renewals to allow the crew to land. The union is also calling for the swift repatriation of the crew without further investigation and the return of electronic equipment.
“No matter how long the investigation takes, the rights and welfare of seafarers should not be compromised in the process,” said Dave Heindel, president of the International Union of Seafarers.
CNN’s Gillian Sykes, Paradise Afshar, Holly Yang and Dakin Andone contributed to this report.