Federal prosecutors charge operator of ship in Baltimore's Key Bridge collapse

The operator of the container ship that lost power and slammed into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge more than two years ago — killing six people and causing the bridge to collapse — is facing federal charges.

An indictment unsealed Tuesday morning charges Synergy Marine's Singapore- and India-based operations with conspiracy to defraud the United States, failing to inform the U.S. Coast Guard of a known hazardous condition, misconduct or neglect by ship officers causing death, false statements and obstructing an agency proceeding. Shore-based technical superintendent Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair, a national of India, was also indicted.

It marks the first criminal charges in connection with the M/V Dali, which crashed into the Key Bridge while heading out to sea from the Port of Baltimore early in the morning of March 26, 2024. Six highway construction workers died. A project to replace the bridge is expected to cost billions of dollars and take until the end of the decade.

Federal prosecutors allege the defendants improperly used a "flushing pump" to supply diesel to two of the Dali's generators, rather than normal fuel supply pumps that have redundancies and can automatically restart. That pump's failure has been blamed for the second of two power outages in the moments leading up to the collision.

"If the M/V Dali had used the proper fuel supply and booster pumps, then the vessel would have regained power in time to safely navigate under the Key bridge," the indictment reads.

The company and Nair were also accused of taking steps to "hide the use of the flushing pump." They were charged with obstruction and making false statements during a National Transportation Safety Board investigation.

CBS News is reaching out to Synergy and Nair for comment.

The indictment and an NTSB report blame the crash on two onboard power outages. The first outage was caused by a loose wire in the ship's switchboard that became disconnected, causing the Dali's main engine to shut down because the pumps that supplied water to cool the engine turned off, the NTSB said. The ship's steering system was also briefly offline.

The crew restored power quickly, but the Dali then faced a second blackout that the NTSB blamed in part on the flushing pump referenced in the indictment. Unlike a pump that's designed specifically to supply diesel to a generator, the NTSB said the flushing pump, which was designed to clear fuel out of piping for maintenance, didn't have redundancies and couldn't restart automatically after an outage. The report called the use of that pump "inappropriate."

The NTSB wrote at the time of its report, which was released last November, that managers for Synergy "were unaware that the flushing pump on the Dali was being used as a service pump." It quoted an unnamed manager who said it would not be acceptable to use the flushing pump as the generators' fuel source.

Prosecutors on Tuesday alleged that the ship's operators concealed the use of the pump, including by "omitting and removing any mention of the flushing pump in ship documents" like audits, engineering logs and crew notes. Nair is also accused of falsely telling the NTSB that he didn't know the flushing pump was used to supply fuel.

The indictment alleges that the Dali began using the flushing pump to supply fuel at least as early as 2020, and the pump was linked to another blackout the day before the collision. Another ship operated by Synergy — the M/V Maersk Saltoro — also faced a blackout in December 2022 due to its use of a flushing pump, prosecutors say.

Beyond Tuesday's criminal charges, the Dali's operator and owner — Synergy and Grace Ocean Private Limited, respectively — have faced a complicated web of civil claims from the federal government, the state of Maryland, the city and county of Baltimore, the families of the victims, the owners of cargo and a range of other parties who have alleged negligence.

Synergy and Grace Ocean settled with the Justice Department for more than $100 million in 2024, and they struck a settlement with the state of Maryland last month. Other claims are expected to go to trial next month, with the owner and operator denying negligence and arguing that their liability is limited to the value of the ship and its contents.