The 984-foot container vessel that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge was carrying not less than 56 containers of hazardous materials, a few of which have fallen into the water, the Nationwide Transportation Security Board stated.
A senior NTSB hazmat investigator recognized the 56 hazardous containers whereas observing the cargo and manifest, Homendy stated.
“That is 764 tons of hazardous supplies. Largely corrosives, flammables, and a few miscellaneous hazardous supplies,” stated the board chief.
Some containers held “class 9” supplies, which can embrace lithium-ion batteries, she stated.
Homendy added that she noticed that some hazardous materials containers had been “breached considerably” and a number of other had fallen into the Patapsco River, however didn’t have “a precise quantity.”
Officers have additionally “seen sheen on the waterway,” she added.
NTSB officers stated the precise sorts of hazardous supplies on the Dali have but to be recognized, and couldn’t communicate to the dangers posed to the general public.
When requested whether or not individuals ought to be involved in regards to the “sheen” on the river, Homendy stated the transportation security company had referred the knowledge to different federal and state authorities.
The Environmental Safety Company and the Maryland Division of the Setting didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark despatched exterior common enterprise hours by Enterprise Insider.
BI additionally contacted two organizations researching water high quality within the space, the Chesapeake Analysis Consortium and Blue Water Baltimore.
“It is a large enterprise for an investigation,” Homendy stated, including that the full probe into the ship’s malfunctions might take 12 to 24 months.
The Dali misplaced energy on Tuesday morning and crashed into Baltimore’s Key Bridge, inflicting its span to break down. Six development employees who had been on the bridge have died or are presumed lifeless, with 4 our bodies nonetheless unrecovered.
The vessel has a gross tonnage of 95,000 tons, which means the containers carrying hazardous supplies would have taken up a small fraction of its whole carrying capability.
Whereas the Key Bridge’s collapse has not been declared a chemical-related emergency as of Wednesday night, hazardous supplies will possible complicate the town’s clean-up course of.
“It is a fairly harmful state of affairs in that space, and we will not go in there,” Homendy stated.
A current main catastrophe, when a prepare carrying poisonous chemical compounds derailed in East Palestine, Ohi,o in February 2023, nonetheless impacts residents greater than a 12 months after the occasion.
Delays in releasing up the Patapsco River additionally threaten main financial penalties. The Port of Baltimore — the ninth busiest US port for worldwide cargo and a serious hub for the automotive trade — is closed to vessels till additional discover as wreckage blocks the waterway.
The lack of the bridge itself is prone to grow to be a ache level for Baltimore commuters since 11.3 million autos plied the Key Bridge yearly. It was additionally the one land transport route for hazardous supplies, posing one other complication for native industries.
Authorities are nonetheless investigating how the Dali misplaced energy because it tried to navigate below the Key Bridge.
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore stated on Wednesday that the ship had handed two overseas port inspections, one in June and one other in September.
