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Dali Chief Engineer Enters Deferred Prosecution in Key Bridge Collapse

His admission could supply prosecutors with evidence to support the pending criminal case against the ship operator.

Overview

  • The Dali struck and collapsed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge after losing power twice on March 26, 2024, killing six construction workers and shutting the Port of Baltimore.
  • Karthikeyan Deenadayalan waived a grand jury indictment, signed a deferred prosecution agreement in federal court and admitted the facts prosecutors say show he failed to notify the U.S. Coast Guard about a hazardous fuel pump.
  • A judge released Deenadayalan under supervised conditions that bar him from holding a passport or firearms, limit travel, require regular probation check-ins and prohibit contact with others tied to the related case.
  • Investigators say a loose switchboard wire likely caused the first blackout and that an improper fuel flushing pump without an automatic restart caused the second blackout that led to the collision.
  • Federal prosecutors have already indicted Singapore-based Synergy Marine and former technical superintendent Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair, a trial is set for October 2027, and Maryland secured a $2.25 billion civil settlement while most remaining civil claims are on hold.