An inspection of the Dali last year on June 27 at the port of San Antonio found problems.

As reported by New York Times, an inspection of the Dali last year in a port in Chile said the vessel had a deficiency related to “propulsion and auxiliary machinery”. The audit clarified that the lack concerned gauges and thermometers.

In particular, in Dali 27 inspections had been carried out since 2015; according to a database maintained by Equasis. Another problem highlighted in another report at the port of Antwerp in 2016 concerned the “damaged hull which reduces seaworthiness”. The ship hit an anchorage in the harbor that year. A spokesman for Dali’s owner, Grace Ocean Investment, declined to comment on the deficiency reported last year.

Earlier, the governor of Maryland had announced that the accident was due to loss of power to the cargo ship while the crew had sounded a distress signal and informed the authorities that they had lost control of the ship.

Maryland Governor Wes Moore confirmed that the cargo ship’s crew contacted authorities and advised that the ship had lost power.

In particular, he said that after a phone call that took place before the collision, the workers stopped the traffic of vehicles on the bridge, thus saving lives.

At the same time, the governor of Maryland stated that “the preliminary investigation indicates an accident, we have not seen any credible evidence of a terrorist attack.”

The incident occurred around 1:30 in the morning (local time) when the Dali ferry crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland causing it to collapse and vehicles to be found in the water.

Video posted on YouTube shows the ship falling onto the bridge in the dark and engulfing in flames with the headlights of the vehicles visible as they fall into the water.

The search for the missing persons continues

As of this hour, six construction workers repairing potholes on the Francis Scott Key Bridge remain missing as divers and rescue crews using boats and helicopters continue to search for them.

At the same time, the work of the rescuers is expected to be made difficult by the rising water level.

So far, authorities have announced that two have been rescued from the waters of the Patapsco River while six others are missing.

According to the Baltimore fire chief, one of the two was taken to the hospital in “very serious condition” after being rescued from the water.

The second refused first aid, as he was not injured.

Federal government money to rebuild the bridge

President Joe Biden has promised that the federal government will pay for the rebuilding of the Scott Key Bridge while calling the ship’s collision with the bridge an accident.

Biden vowed to move “heaven and earth” to reopen one of the world’s busiest ports, saying “we’ll get it back up and running as soon as possible. 15,000 jobs depend on this port. And we’re going to do everything we can to protect those jobs,” Biden said in remarks at the White House.

“I have given orders to my team to move heaven and earth to open the port and rebuild the bridge as soon as possible,” he said.

“It is my intention that the federal government pay for the entire cost of rebuilding this bridge. I expect Congress to support my effort and that will take some time. The people of Baltimore can count on us to stand with them every step of the way,” Biden said.

The US president said he was not going to wait for the investigation to see if the ship was at fault before deciding whether to rebuild the bridge.

“We will not wait for that to happen. We’re going to prepay to get the bridge fixed and open again,” Biden said.