BALTIMORE (AP) — Federal agents on Saturday boarded a cargo ship operated by the same company. The deadly Baltimore Bridge collapsesThe FBI confirmed.
In reports, spokespeople for the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland confirmed that officers had boarded the Maersk Saltoro. The vessel is managed by Synergy Marine Group.
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Coast Guard’s investigative services are aboard the Maersk Saltoro conducting court-authorized law enforcement operations,” both the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in statements.
Officials did not provide additional details. The Washington Post first reported that federal officials were on board.
In a case on WednesdayThe U.S. Department of Justice has accused Daly’s owner Grace Ocean Pvt Ltd and Singapore’s manager Synergy Marine Group of carelessly cutting corners and ignoring known electrical problems when the ship hit a support column minutes before the ship lost power. Francis Scott Key Bridge in March.
The Justice Department alleges that the massive ship’s mechanical and electrical systems were “jury-rigged” and improperly maintained, causing a power outage minutes before it hit the bridge. River construction Workers were killed When the bridge fell into the water.
The collapse crippled commercial shipping through the Port of Baltimore for months Fully opened in June.
A ship leaving Baltimore for Sri Lanka lost its rudder due to a power outage.
The Justice Department is seeking to recover more than $100 million spent to clean up underwater debris and reopen the city’s harbor.
The companies filed the petition in court days after the collapse Limit their legal liability It could become the costliest maritime casualty case in history. Justice officials said the effort to limit liability lacked legal support and vowed to vigorously contest it.
The Justice Department argued in its lawsuit that ship owners and operators “must be deterred from engaging in such reckless and highly harmful conduct.”
That includes Grace Ocean and Synergy, officials wrote, because Dali has a “sister ship.”
“Both companies should be barred because they continue to operate their vessels, including a sister vessel to Daly, in US waters and benefit economically from those activities,” the lawsuit states.
Grace Ocean spokesman Darrell Wilson confirmed the FBI and Coast Guard boarded the Maersk Saltoro in Baltimore Harbor on Saturday morning.
Wilson previously said the owner and manager “look forward to our day in court” about the lawsuit.
Dali was trapped in the rubble of the collapse months before Discharged and refloated, Departed Norfolk, VirginiaThursday afternoon to China on its first international trip since the March 26 disaster.
Justice Department officials declined to answer questions Wednesday about whether a criminal investigation into the bridge collapse is ongoing. FBI agents boarded the daly The month of April.
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Mattis reported from Nashville, Tennessee.
