Indian Crew On Ship That Brought Down Bridge Is Healthy
India-West News Desk
NEW YORK, NY – The Indian crew onboard a crippled container vessel that collided against a key bridge in Baltimore last week is “healthy”, according to a nonprofit organization that has been in touch with the personnel.
The 2.6km-long, four-lane bridge over the Patapsco River in Baltimore, came crashing down after Dali, a 984-foot cargo ship bound for Sri Lanka, collided against it in the early hours of March 26. The 21 crew members of Dali, of which 20 are Indians are still onboard the crippled cargo ship nearly a week after the collision.
“All I know right now is that they are healthy, and we are doing the best we can to support their needs emotionally and otherwise,” Baltimore International Seafarers’ Center Executive Director, Rev. Joshua Messick, told PTI.
Messick said he has “been in touch with the crew via WhatsApp” and described the crew’s responses to him as well as to those who are in touch with it as being “succinct”.
“I imagine they are being very careful about what they say and to whom,” he said. Messick added that he has again reached out to the crew of the Dali to ‘see if I could have anything delivered to them today’.
The Baltimore International Seafarers’ Centre is a nonprofit organization serving seafarers who call on the Port of Baltimore from all over the world. Its mission is to “facilitate the well-being of crew members by offering transportation ashore,” according to information on its website.
The Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi had said that 20 Indians are onboard the cargo ship Dali, and the Indian Embassy in Washington is in close touch with them and the local authorities. The Indian Embassy in the US is also said to be in close touch with the crew, PTI reported.
US authorities have been interviewing personnel, including the Indian crew members, onboard Dali that collided against the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.
Shipping company Synergy Group, which manages the Singapore-flagged Dali, said in a statement last week that the US agency National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) boarded the vessel and collected documents, voyage data recorder extra, and other evidence as part of their investigation.
