The FBI has opened a criminal investigation into the large container ship that brought down the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, according to reports.
The bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River on March 26 in Maryland, killing six bridge workers.
The investigation will at least partly focus on the Dali cargo ship and whether its crew left the port in Baltimore knowing the ship had serious problems with its systems, the Post said.
Authorities will review events leading up to the moment when the Dali slammed into one of the bridge’s support pillars, unnamed officials told the Post.
On Monday morning federal agents appeared to board the ship to conduct a search, the Post reported.
An aerial view of the cargo ship after collapsing the Francis Scott Key Bridge
Getty Images
“The FBI is present aboard the cargo ship Dali conducting court authorized law enforcement activity,” the agency said in a statement.
The head of the US National Transportation Safety Board separately told Congress last week that it had interviewed key cargo ship personnel as part of its investigation of the crash.
Work to clear the wreckage and restore traffic through the Mid-Atlantic state’s shipping channel is ongoing.
On April 5, US president Joe Biden flew over the scene of the disaster to get an aerial view. He met local officials for a briefing on the economic impact to the Baltimore port, an important shipping destination for ships to offload automobiles.
The victims were all immigrants from Mexico and Central America, who were fixing potholes on the road surface of the bridge when it collapsed.
