The National Union of Seafarers Sri Lanka (NUSS) and its affiliate the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) were yesterday closely monitoring the situation on the cargo vessel Dali, after some foreign media reports stated that human error could have been responsible for the March 26 crash on the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore-USA.
“What is of concern to us is that the lone Sri Lankan seafarer on board the vessel was listed as the electrical engineer and the ship lost control after the four generators including the backup packed up without a warning.
Apart from the electrical engineer, there is also a chief engineer and the generators should come under their watch,” said the NUSS President Boa Athu.“However, at the end of the day the Captain is fully responsible for the navigation of the vessel from start to finish and in this case there were also two local (US) pilots on board,” ITF Colombo representative Ranjan Perera said.Foreign media reports quoting maritime experts investigating the crash stated that human error was the chief cause for the crash but stopped short of elaborating, Perera said.
“The US investigators are currently going through the vessel with a fine comb, collecting whatever data and other evidence and have also interviewed the crew.
“There remains the possibility that the ship could also be arrested at any time pending the outcome of the investigations,” he said. The Sunday Observer contacted Dali’s local agent for comment but there was no response.
