The Washington Post reported on Monday that the FBI has initiated a federal criminal investigation into the bridge collapse in Maryland on March 26.
According to two U.S. officials familiar with the situation, the probe will focus on the Dali cargo ship and whether its crew departed from Baltimore port despite knowing about serious issues with the ship’s systems.
Efforts to reach representatives for the FBI for comment on the report were unsuccessful.
In a separate development, the head of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board informed Congress last week that the agency had conducted interviews with key personnel from the cargo ship as part of its own investigation into the incident.
The cleanup and restoration of traffic in the Mid-Atlantic state’s shipping channel are still ongoing following the crash caused by a container ship losing power and colliding with a support pylon, resulting in the bridge collapsing into the Patapsco River and claiming the lives of six bridge workers.
