Ship had multiple blackouts before striking Baltimore bridge, investigators find [Video]

The ship that knocked down Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge suffered two electrical blackouts that disabled critical equipment, federal safety investigators said in a preliminary report released Tuesday.

The report, issued by the National Transportation Safety Board, provides the first detailed examination of what went wrong as the Singapore-flagged cargo ship Dali lost power, veered off course and slammed into a critical bridge pier.

In addition to the blackouts on March 26, the report described electrical problems the day before the disaster. About 10 hours before the Dali left the Port of Baltimore for a voyage to Sri Lanka, the ship lost power twice, investigators said in the report. Officials wrote that a mistake by a crew member working on part of a diesel engine caused an initial “in-port blackout.” A second blackout in port “was related to insufficient fuel pressure,” it said.

“The NTSB is still investigating the electrical …