Dali's chief engineer latest to face criminal charges in Key Bridge collapse

Federal prosecutors have filed additional criminal charges in the deadly 2024 Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.

The chief engineer of the Dali, the container ship that crashed into the bridge, has been charged with violations of the Port and Waterways Safety Act. 

Karthikeyan Deenadayalan is accused of knowingly and willfully failing to notify the U.S. Coast Guard about hazardous conditions on the ship, the Baltimore Banner reports.

The chief engineer and the federal government have agreed to defer the prosecution, meaning that his case is on pause. The Banner reports that this is the first criminal charge against a crew member who was aboard the ship.

The Banner reports that prosecutors and Deenadayalan reached a "deferred prosecution agreement," where a criminal conviction could be avoided if Deenadayalan complies with certain terms.

Baltimore's iconic bridge collapsed on March 26, 2024, killing six construction workers who were filling potholes.

The collapse of the bridge shut down the main channel into the Port of Baltimore for weeks and slowed businesses in the area.

Charges against the ship's operator

In May, federal charges were unsealed against Dali's operator, Synergy, and an employee over alleged Ports and Waterways violations. The complaints claim they concealed dangerous conditions on the ship by falsifying inspection reports and evading maritime safety requirements.

The indictment alleges that Synergy used the wrong fuel pump, which prevented the ship from regaining power after an outage just before it hit the Key Bridge in March 2024. The Dali had at least four power outages before the collision, NTSB investigators determined.

Synergy said in court documents that the allegations are "unfounded and strenuously denied." 

Settlements with collapse victims

After the criminal charges were unsealed, the Dali's owner and operator requested a delay in the June 1 civil trial, which was initially denied and then ultimately accepted.

The delay follows an undisclosed settlement that was reached with the ship's owner and operator and the families of some of the Key Bridge victims.

Key Bridge rebuild progress

Plans for the Key Bridge reconstruction are underway.

In April, the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) cut ties with contractor Kiewit. The contactor upped the estimated total of the project to about $9 billion, which was more than they had anticipated.

The new Key Bridge is expected to be built by the end of 2030.

The new contractors will be divided into four sections.

The state said the most expensive contractor will be about $3.5 billion to $4 billion to construct the over-the-water section of the bridge.  

The MDTA projects $300 million to $400 million for the over-the-land portion of the bridges' south side; $200 million to $300 million for the over-the-land section on the north side; and $50 million to $100 million to complete the demolition of the old structure that remains in the water.

There will be three other contracts: over-the-land portions on the bridge's south side, which the state projects will cost $300 million to $400 million; over-the-land portions on the north side, projected to cost $200 million to $300 million; and demolishing remnants of the old structure for $50 million to $100 million.

The Key Bridge rebuild will be more than two miles long with two 12-foot lanes in each direction. The bridge will have 230 feet of clearance above the federal channel and will have a lifespan of 100 years. 

In an accompanying filing, prosecutors wrote that they had entered into a "deferred prosecution agreement" with Deenadayalan, meaning he can avoid a criminal conviction if he complies with certain terms that are not spelled out in the documents. Prosecutors asked that a public hearing be set "at the earliest available opportunity."

The U.S. Department of Justice has said the tragedy could have been averted if the cargo ship Dali's operator, Synergy Marine Group, had responsibly maintained the ship's generators. Instead, they say the company improperly used what are known as flushing pumps. Synergy connected those pumps to generators — a dangerous practice that can cause blackouts — on at least three vessels since 2020 and later "provided false documents and false statements" to investigators, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors said Synergy sought to maximize its profits and "concealed safety information" from regulators to ensure its vessels could do business in U.S. ports.

Synergy has disputed the criminal allegations and said at the time of the indictments that federal authorities ignored "clear and well-documented findings" that the Dali crew did nothing wrong.

"We are confident that the DOJ cannot and will not meet its burden of proof and that we will prevail at trial," said the spokesperson, Darrell Wilson. The company previously said Maryland should have better reinforced the bridge 

The previous employee charged, Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair, is accused of removing references to a flushing pump from ship documents. Maryland U.S. Attorney Kelly Hayes said authorities believe Nair is in India and would use all "available law enforcement tools" to take him into custody.

Every member of the ship crew as well as others invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination during proceedings in the civil case.

Ahead of a status conference scheduled for Tuesday, prosecutors said in unrelated court filings Monday that they want an October 2027 trial date and are seeking to serve witnesses with trial subpoenas.

Though the new charges mark the first time a Dali crew member has been charged with a crime as part of the collapse, several seafarers have been stuck in a sort of limbo since the bridge collapse.

Of the 21 crew members aboard the Dali, most went home to India and Sri Lanka in the months after the tragedy, but senior officers have remained stateside since March 2024.