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Federal investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board told reporters Thursday that a full probe into the ship malfunction and subsequent Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse could take as long as two years.
“It’s a massive undertaking for an investigation,” said NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy when asked about a timeline for the probe. “It’s a, you know, it’s a very tragic event. It’s multimodal. There is a lot of information we need to collect, a lot that we need to analyze, many interviews, many different components to the investigation, but this is not new for the NTSB.”
Homendy then provided rough timeline after stating that the agency is capable of conducting a thorough probe. “We have an amazing team of individuals who are focused on very specific areas of expertise, and so I have no doubt that we will be able to pull this together in hopefully 12 to 24 months,” she said. “With that said, we will not hesitate again to issue urgent safety recommendations to issue urgent safety recommendations before that time if we need to.”
Thursday’s press conference came after NTSB investigators boarded the cargo ship that caused the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
Investigators boarded the Dali, a Singapore-based vessel, in order to retrieve electronics and paperwork. The agency also conducted interviews with the captain and additional crew members.
Of the 21 crew members on the ship, 20 are from India, according to a statement from the nation’s foreign ministry spokesman, Randhir Jaiswal. One crew member required stitches, though the remaining members are “in good health,” Jaiswal said.
The devastation at the site of the collapse has been described as “extensive.” Divers were able to reach the bodies of two workers found in a pick-up truck, though officials stated that recovery efforts will not be possible until parts of the bridge’s twisted metal are cleared away.
The victims, six in total, were part of a pothole repair crew that was unable to clear the bridge in time. Workers on the bridge hailed from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, according to superintendent of Maryland State Police Col. Roland L. Butler. Eight people were initially missing after the collapse, though two workers were rescued after plunging into the water.
The crash — which preliminary investigations have pinned on a mechanical failure and power outage on the Dali — caused the bridge to collapse within seconds.
