Justice Department Indicts Dali Operators On 18 Criminal Counts

A federal court unsealed a U.S. Justice Department indictment May 12 against two corporate entities and a shoreside superintendent in connection with the mv. Dali crashing into and knocking down the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland.

The mv. Dali is a 900-foot container vessel registered in Singapore. The crash on March 26, 2024, killed six construction workers.

The indictment alleges that the economic loss from the mv. Dali collapsing the bridge is at least $5 billion. The Key Bridge has not yet been rebuilt, and estimates for that alone have ballooned from $1.7 billion to more than $4 billion.

The indictment specifies the charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and causing the death of the six workers. Indictments are charges against the defendants by the government agency as the prosecutor in the case but must be proven in court to result in a conviction. Defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

Synergy Marine Private Limited, based in Singapore, and Synergy Maritime Private Limited, based in Chennai, India, along with Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair, 47, an Indian national who worked for both companies as the technical superintendent for the Dali, are charged with conspiracy, willfully failing to immediately inform the U.S. Coast Guard of a known hazardous condition, obstruction of an agency proceeding and false statements.

The two Synergy corporations are also charged with misdemeanor violations of the Clean Water Act, Oil Pollution Act and Refuse Act for the discharge of pollutants into the Patapsco River, including shipping containers and their contents, oil and the bridge itself.

The Justice Department has already filed civil claims against Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine Private Limited, the Singaporean corporations that owned and operated the Dali, in the U.S. District Court for the district of Maryland. A $101.98 million settlement was previously reached to cover federal cleanup costs, while separate, massive lawsuits for bridge reconstruction and damages are ongoing.

“The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge was a preventable tragedy of enormous consequence,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said. “This indictment is a critical step toward holding accountable those whose reckless disregard for maritime safety regulations caused this disaster. Six construction workers lost their lives, critical infrastructure was destroyed, pollutants were released into the Patapsco River and Chesapeake Bay, and the economic damage now exceeds $5 billion.”

“The indictment reveals a pattern of deception and egregious violations that led to the unsafe operation of the Dali which recklessly endangered the public and resulted in the ship striking the bridge,” said Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul of the FBI Baltimore Field Office.

He added that the indictment should send a message to ship operators that circumventing safety requirements would not be tolerated.

Coast Guard Investigation

The FBI, Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) and the EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division are investigating the case as part of a team of prosecutors and investigators.

According to the indictment, the Dali lost power twice in a four-minute span as it navigated out to sea from the Port of Baltimore, causing it to crash into the Key Bridge. The indictment alleges that a single loose wire in a high-voltage switchboard likely caused the first power loss.

Critical systems on the Dali were originally designed with reliable redundancies and automatic restart capabilities, so the Dali could quickly regain power after a blackout, but, shortly after the vessel regained power, it lost power again. According to the indictment, the defendants allegedly altered the ship and relied on a flushing pump to supply fuel to two of the Dali’s four generators. However, the flushing pump was not designed to automatically restart following a blackout, and the Dali’s generators could not operate without a fuel supply, so the ship ultimately experienced a second blackout. The indictment alleges that if the Dali used the proper fuel supply pumps, the vessel would have regained power in time to safely navigate under the Key Bridge.

Synergy and Nair are also charged with obstruction of an agency proceeding and providing false statements and documents to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as it conducted a casualty investigation. The obstruction charges relate to, among other things, Nair’s statements to the NTSB that he was unaware that that the Dali was using the flushing pump to provide fuel to the generators.