Captain of container ship that caused Baltimore bridge collapse is Indian, not Ukrainian
India’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that the crew members of the cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore are in “good shape and good health.” (Mar 28).
CLAIM: The captain of Dali, the container ship that crashed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, is Ukrainian.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. A Ukrainian man who was listed on a maritime jobs database as captaining Dali for about five months in 2016 is being erroneously blamed for the incident online. The Dali’s captain and crew are Indian, Synergy Marine Group, the company that manages the ship, told The Associated Press. There were two pilots — local specialists who help guide vessels safely in and out of ports — navigating Dali at the time of the collision. Both are U.S. citizens, according to Synergy.
THE FACTS: Following the crash that caused Key Bridge to collapse early Tuesday, social media users shared a screenshot of a webpage they said identified Dali’s captain.
The screenshot, taken on the BalticShipping.com database, shows two seafarers listed as having worked on Dali, including a 52-year-old Ukrainian man who it says applied for the role of master, or captain.
“The captain of the ship that hit the bridge in Baltimore is Ukrainian,” reads one X post, sharing the screenshot. “Is he upset with the aid delay? Or just unlucky?”
But Synergy told the AP that Dali’s captain and crew at the time of the collision were Indian.
Dali was being piloted out of Baltimore when it struck Key Bridge, the company wrote in a statement on Tuesday. Synergy told the AP that both pilots were U.S. citizens. One of the pilots was an apprentice observing a licensed pilot, said Clay Diamond, executive director and general counsel for the American Pilots Association.
The ship was headed from Baltimore to Colombo, Sri Lanka, and flying under a Singapore flag, according to data from Marine Traffic. Every foreign-flagged ship coming into U.S. water must have a state-licensed pilot on board. Pilots board the ships before they enter the local waterways and take navigational control, meaning they give orders for the ship’s speed and direction.
In a summary of his work history on BalticShipping.com, the Ukrainian man seen in the screenshot spreading online was listed as master, or captain, of Dali from March 19, 2016, to July 27, 2016. According to the summary, Dali flew under a Marshall Islands flag at the time and was managed by a Greek company called Oceanbulk Maritime.
The Ukrainian man’s BalticShipping.com listing had been removed from the site as of Tuesday evening.
After losing power, Dali crashed into one of Key Bridge’s pillars about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, causing the structure to break apart and crumple within seconds into the Patapsco River. Both the FBI and U.S. Attorney Erek Barron, Maryland’s top prosecutor, say there are no signs of terrorism.
Six construction workers who were filling potholes on the bridge when it collapsed are still unaccounted for and presumed dead, the AP has reported. Two people were rescued from the water on Tuesday.
The collapse is expected to create a logistical nightmare for months, if not years, in the region, shutting down ship traffic at the Port of Baltimore, a major shipping hub. It will also snarl cargo and commuter traffic.
Opened in 1977, Key Bridge was named for the writer of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
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This is part of the AP’s effort to address widely shared false and misleading information that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
