Baltimore bridge collapse: Owner of ship agrees to pay $102m to US

New York: The US justice department said on Thursday that the owner and operator of the ship that crashed into a Baltimore bridge in US will pay the country a $100m in settlement, The Guardian reported.

Six people died when the ship, the Dali, owned and operated by the Singapore based corporations Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine Private Limited, hit the bridge in March.

Now these corporations agreed to settle the lawsuit over the Francis Scott Key Bridge’s collapse at a sum of $101,980,000.

Benjamin C Mizer, principal deputy associate attorney general termed settlement an important milestone that came almost seven months after ‘one of the worst transportation disasters in recent memory’.

Mizer added that the cost of the cleanup of the Fort McHenry Channel is borne by the ‘Grace Ocean and Synergy and not the American taxpayer’.

The justice department accused the ship’s owner and operator of poorly maintaining its mechanical and electrical systems, causing loss of power which led the vessel to travel off course, hitting the bridge.

A large chunk of the bridge fell into the river from the impact of hit, killing 6 construction workers.

Following which commercial ship traffic in Baltimore port was disrupted, requiring a cleanup.

It is reported that authorities spent more than $100m to remove debris, before reopening the channel.

The ship was en route to Sri Lanka when power loss led its steering failure.

Police immediately stopped traffic on the bride preventing far more death from the crash.

However, officials were not able to alert the construction crew who were at work to fill potholes, when the vessel hit the bridge’s key column throwing into them the water. All the victims were Latino immigrants.

The cleanup of the channel required authorities to remove 50,000 tons of steel, concrete, and asphalt.