Chief engineer charged in Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse case

The criminal case tied to the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse widened again as prosecutors charged the Dali’s chief engineer, Karthikeyan Deenadayalan, with one count under the federal Port and Waterways Safety Act. The charge alleges he knowingly and willfully failed to notify the U.S. Coast Guard about hazardous conditions aboard the ship, putting a new layer of accountability on a disaster Baltimore is still rebuilding from.

The Dali, a 984-foot Singapore-flagged containership, struck Pier 17 at about 1:29 a.m. on March 26, 2024 after losing electrical power, propulsion and steering. The collision brought down a substantial portion of the Francis Scott Key Bridge into the Patapsco River, killing six highway workers, seriously injuring one more and leaving one inspector unharmed. One person aboard the Dali suffered a minor injury.

The collapse shut down the main shipping channel to the Port of Baltimore and forced more than 34,000 daily bridge users onto alternate routes. About 10 percent of those vehicles were trucks, and the bridge had been the primary route for vehicles carrying hazardous materials that cannot use Baltimore’s tunnels. For port workers, freight haulers and neighborhoods that depend on the flow of traffic around the harbor, the closure turned one nighttime impact into a regional disruption that lasted far beyond the collapse itself.

Federal investigators later said the probable cause was a blackout tied to a loose signal wire connection and improper installation of wire-label banding. They also said the collapse was worsened because the bridge lacked vulnerability assessment-based countermeasures to protect it from ship strikes. That finding has kept attention on not just the ship and its crew, but on the design and safety assumptions that left one of Baltimore’s most important crossings exposed.

The reconstruction bill has risen sharply. The Maryland Transportation Authority updated the rebuild estimate in 2025 to $4.3 billion to $5.2 billion and projected reopening in late 2030, up from earlier estimates of roughly $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion and a 2028 target. State officials said the higher price reflects increased material costs and a design that includes stronger pier protection and taller towers. The new charge also arrives as the criminal trial for the ship’s operator is scheduled for October 2027, ensuring the legal aftermath will stretch well beyond the physical rebuild of the bridge and the recovery of Baltimore’s port economy.