21 men trapped without their phones on board involved in Baltimore bridge collapse.
It has been approximately seven weeks since the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed, but almost two dozen sailors remain on the cargo ship responsible for the disaster. The Dalí was finally detached on Monday. However, 21 Indian and Sri Lankan sailors are reportedly trapped on board for various reasons.
According to reports, the crew members must remain on board due to visa restrictions, lack of shore passes, and two ongoing investigations by the FBI and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Additionally, authorities say the crew remains busy continuing to operate the large cargo ship. Over the past two months, these 21 sailors have witnessed the collapse of a bridge above them, bodies being pulled from the Patapsco River, and a controlled explosion right in front of their ship.
On Monday, authorities released the Dalí from a huge metal and pavement cage that had been resting on the ship for seven weeks through small explosions. The procedure is called “precision cutting,” and it uses small charges to divide the collapsed portion of the bridge into more manageable sections. The BBC reports that the Dalí crew had to remain below deck in the ship’s hull with a team of firefighters ready.
A controlled detonation of explosives is used to release the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge from the container ship Dali. About a 500-foot section of the bridge was removed so the ship could be moved into port. 🎥 👉 — Getty Images News (@GettyImagesNews)
“They are part of the ship. They are necessary to keep the ship manned and operational,” said U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Shannon Gilreath to the BBC. “They are the best responders on board the ship.”
On board, the report describes a “sad situation” where sailors had their mobile phones confiscated as part of an FBI investigation. The head of a non-profit organization that protects sailors’ rights tells the BBC that the crew members have been unable to pay bills or send funds to their families. Reportedly, the crew received SIM cards and disposable phones without included data, but many of them do not have anyone’s contact information.
“While some crew members are managing, it is understandable that morale has dropped,” according to a statement from the Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union and the Singapore Seamen’s Union earlier this week. The statement details that the crew members have been under “emotional distress.”
Reportedly, authorities have been sending large amounts of food and supplies on board for the 21 crew members. Originally, there were 23 members on the Dalí, but it appears that two were able to disembark. The remaining crew also received aid packages from various community groups and private individuals, including batches of Indian snacks, handmade quilts, and puzzles.
Some crew members fear being personally held responsible for the disaster. An investigation found that two power outages disabled the equipment before the incident. The day before, the Dalí experienced another blackout. The report details that the ship’s pilot made a very high-frequency (VHF) marine radio call to warn all water traffic just minutes before the collision.
Darrel Wilson, spokesperson for Synergy Marine, the Singapore-based Dalí management company, told the BBC that he could not provide a timeline for the crew to disembark the ship at this time. Once the ship has been fully refloated, tugs will take the Dalí to a Baltimore port. There, the ship is expected to remain docked for several weeks for repairs, while the men will stay on the ship “for the foreseeable future.”
