The electrical blackout that hit the Dali twice before the Key Bridge fell
Four minutes.
That is what the NTSB measured between the second blackout on the MV Dali and the moment the ship struck the support pier of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
At approximately 1:30 a.m. on March 26, 2024, the container ship hit the pier, and the bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River.
The ship's pilot reported a power failure moments before the collision.
The NTSB determined the Dali had experienced two electrical blackouts before that impact.
The first blackout occurred while the ship was still at the dock.
The second occurred approximately four minutes before the ship hit the bridge.
The crew addressed the first blackout.
They did not fully resolve the underlying electrical issue.
That is what the NTSB found.
Why wasn't it fixed?
Why did the ship leave the dock with the problem unresolved?
Why did four minutes pass between the second blackout and the collision?
The exact cause of the second blackout is not established here.
Only that it happened.
Four minutes before impact, the lights went out again.
The pilot had the helm.
The crew had the engines.
The bridge was ahead.
THE FIRST BLACKOUT
The first blackout came while the Dali was still at the dock.
The NTSB recovered the ship's voyage data recorder and launched an immediate investigation.
The crew addressed the first blackout.
They did not fully resolve the underlying electrical issue.
The NTSB's final report, released in 2025, cited a faulty electrical connection and inadequate maintenance as contributing factors.
The NTSB also noted the ship had experienced a previous power failure in 2016 while at port.
Why wasn't the first blackout taken more seriously?
Why was the ship cleared to leave?
Why did the crew believe the problem was solved?
That last question is not established in this section; the record does not say whether the crew knew the first blackout was not fully resolved.
The voyage data recorder held the sequence.
It showed the dock-side failure.
It showed the repair attempt.
It showed the ship proceeding toward the channel.
The pilot had the helm.
The crew had the engines.
The bridge was ahead.
The NTSB's investigators would later trace the path from that first flicker of lost power to the second one, four minutes before impact.
A faulty electrical connection.
Inadequate maintenance.
Those were the words in the 2025 report.
Those were the conditions that preceded the collapse.
THE COLLAPSE
The collapse came at approximately 1:30 a.m. on March 26, 2024.
Six construction workers were filling potholes on the bridge when it fell.
They were all immigrant workers from Latin America, employed by Brawner Builders.
Two workers were rescued from the water.
The identities of the two rescued workers are not in the record.
The bridge carried Interstate 695.
It had been completed in 1977.
The Dali’s crew remained aboard after the strike.
No crew member was charged with a crime.
The FBI opened a criminal investigation into the collapse.
Agents served search warrants on the ship.
They seized electronic devices from the vessel.
The investigation focused on whether the crew had known about the ship’s mechanical issues before departure.
Not because a crime was presumed. But because the ship had lost power twice before the impact.
The first blackout happened at the dock.
The second came roughly four minutes before the collision.
The crew addressed the first blackout, the NTSB later found.
They did not fully resolve the underlying electrical issue.
That issue would be named in the 2025 report: a faulty electrical connection.
Inadequate maintenance.
Those were the conditions that preceded the collapse.
The bridge fell into the Patapsco River, and the water took the rest.
The six workers were on the span, not on the ship.
They were there to repair the road surface in the dark hours of the morning.
The two who survived were pulled from the water and the wreckage.
The record names the six victims.
It does not name the two who came out alive.
The FBI closed its investigation without charges.
The Dali stayed on the water, a 948-foot container ship now tied to a pier.
The bridge it struck would be rebuilt and reopened in late 2025.
That reopening did not bring back the six.
It did not answer why the second blackout was not prevented.
The river held the wreckage, and the wreckage held the evidence.
THE INVESTIGATIONS
The FBI opened its investigation with a question: had the crew known about the ship's mechanical problems before departure?
They served search warrants on the Dali and seized electronic devices.
In May 2024, the FBI announced it had found no evidence that the crew had acted with criminal intent.
That is not the same as proof of innocence.
It is a finding of no evidence, not a finding of no guilt.
The NTSB kept its own clock running.
Its final report, released in 2025, cited a faulty electrical connection and inadequate maintenance as contributing factors.
The report also noted the ship had suffered a previous power failure in 2016 while at port.
The official record was now clear.
The legal aftermath was not.
In September 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil lawsuit against Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and Synergy Marine Group, the ship's owner and manager.
The government sought more than $100 million in cleanup costs and damages.
The companies had earlier petitioned to limit their liability to approximately $43.6 million, the value of the ship.
In April 2025, the companies agreed to pay $102 million to settle the federal government's claims.
That covered the cost of removing the bridge wreckage and reopening the shipping channel.
It did not cover the families.
The families of the six workers filed separate wrongful-death lawsuits against the owner, the manager, and the U.S. government, alleging negligence in the bridge's design and maintenance.
Those lawsuits remained pending as of late 2025.
No criminal charges were filed against any individual.
The FBI closed its investigation without charges.
The NTSB recommended changes to ship electrical system maintenance and to bridge protection standards.
The record is closed on what happened.
It remains open on who pays, and for what.
AND THE STORY STILL ISN'T OVER
The families of the six workers filed separate wrongful-death lawsuits against the ship’s owner and manager, as well as against the U.S. government.
They alleged negligence in the bridge’s design and maintenance.
Those lawsuits remained pending as of late 2025.
The outcome is not in the record.
The families have received some compensation from a fund established by the ship’s owner and manager.
It is compensation. It is not a settlement of the lawsuits.
The Dali was refloated and towed back to port in May 2024.
It was later moved to a shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia, for repairs.
The rebuilt Francis Scott Key Bridge opened to traffic in November 2025.
The NTSB’s final report recommended changes to ship electrical system maintenance.
It also recommended changes to bridge protection standards.
The report is out. The recommendations are made.
The record is closed on what happened.
It remains open on who pays, and for what.
That would require evidence.
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