From Baltimore collapse to home in India: Crew recall tragedy, closure

“I finally managed to speak to her after about 12 hours,” says the seafarer who is among the 11 crew members allowed to come back home to India after MV Dali collided with the Baltimore bridge following a power failure.

Six people, who were on the bridge had died, while the ship was extensively damaged.

“It occurred after midnight when most of the crew were resting. I was asleep at the time and woke up to an announcement on the vessel’s PA system. Along with the Chief Cook, General Steward, and an AB (Able Seaman) I rushed out, trying to comprehend what had happened. The entire crew was shocked and apprehensive. This vessel had always been well-maintained, so the incident was deeply unsettling for all of us. The feeling of uncertainty was palpable,” recalls Peeris, from his home to which he returned in June this year, three months after the accident that made headlines the world over.

A drone view of the Dali cargo vessel, which crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge causing it to collapse, in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo: Reuters/File)

MV Dali, a container ship, named after the Spanish painter Salvador Dali, owned by Singapore-based Grace Ocean Ltd and managed by Synergy Marine, left Baltimore port with a crew of 22 Indians and two Maryland pilots on March 26.

It was bound for Colombo in Sri Lanka and carried a cargo of around 4,700 containers. Shortly after it sailed out, the ship lost power and propulsion and struck a support pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, leading to the bridge’s collapse.

Even though traffic had been stopped on the bridge after a Mayday call from the ship, averting what could have been a much bigger disaster, six construction workers on the bridge were killed. None aboard the Dali were injured, except for one.

Forty-six year old Selva Kumar, a Seaman from Chennai, was going to the ship’s forward through the underdeck passage when he suddenly felt a jolt and dashed against the ship’s steel structure and got hurt. “I needed a few stitches, which were promptly arranged for by the company and the Indian embassy in the US,” says Kumar for whom the injury was minor compared to the difficult days that followed.

The ship stayed near the collision site where salvage operations and initial assessments were conducted. The full crew was on board during this time, with the company arranging regular delivery of pre-prepared Indian food to give some respite to the cook and also two extra deck hands to share the enhanced work load with more people on board, given that the investigation into the incident by the FBI started almost immediately.

“In the days after the incident, the atmosphere on board was understandably tense, and, quite frankly, the main question on everyone’s mind was, ‘How did this happen to our vessel?’ This incident shook us all deeply. However, there was a strong sense of unity among us, which made a real difference. We supported each other and focused on our roles, helping one another maintain composure and calm. We were all in this together.. The regular check-ins with officers and access to support made a big difference as well,” said Kumar adding that people from his company’s Emergency Response Team, from both Singapore and the US, were on site in Baltimore the very next day. Representatives from the Indian Embassy in Washington and the Director General of Shipping of India also visited the ship soon after, giving them much-needed reassurance.

“Other than regular counselling sessions on board and our continuous communication with our loved ones back home, what also helped was hearing both US President Biden and Maryland Governor Wes Moore express their thanks to our ship’s crew for issuing a Mayday warning before the impact, which they said likely saved lives. That recognition made us feel positive about our actions during a difficult time,” says Peeris.

Adds Kumar, “However, the news of the loss of life of those repairing the bridge remains the saddest part of this experience.”

Three months later in June, 11 members of the crew, hailing from states like Kerala, Goa, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, were allowed to disembark and go back to their homes, while 11 others (mainly the officers) are still in the US as investigations continue. They have been moved from the ship to service apartments.

“Returning home was a huge relief—not just for me, but for my family as well. There was a lot of joy in that reunion, and being with them helped me put the experience behind me,” says Kumar, who is ready to go back to the sea and will join a new ship on November 26. “It is what I do. It’s all I have done all my life.”

Peeris, who, too, has been assigned a new vessel, hopes that his 11 colleagues who are still in the US will return home soon. “It has been a challenging time for all of us, and reuniting with their families would bring them the same comfort and closure I’ve experienced,” he says.

Meanwhile, in May, MV Dali berthed at Baltimore port from where it went to Norfolk in Virginia to offload cargo and undergo temporary repairs. In November, she arrived at Fuzhou port in China for more extensive repairs, to be followed by inspection and preparations before resuming operations. While the Baltimore port and channel reopened for ships in June, the Francis Scott Key Bridge is expected to be rebuilt by 2028.