Investigators focus on electrical system of ship in Baltimore bridge collapse

BALTIMORE (AP) — During the initial stages of a federal probe into the deadly collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, investigators are focusing on the electrical power system of the massive container ship that veered off course.

Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said her agency is gathering data with assistance from Hyundai, the manufacturer of equipment in the ship’s engine room. Testifying before a U.S. Senate committee Wednesday morning, she said investigators have also requested assistance to examine its circuit breakers.

“That is where our focus is right now in this investigation,” she said. “Of course, that’s preliminary. It could take different roads, different paths as we continue this investigation.”

Homendy said they’ve zeroed in on the electrical system. The ship experienced power issues moments before the crash, as evidenced in videos showing its lights going out and coming back on.

Homendy said information gleaned from the vessel’s voyage data recorder is relatively basic, “so that information in the engine room will help us tremendously.”

Investigators are also examining the bridge design and how it could be built with better pier protection “under today’s standards,” Homendy said.

The container ship Dali was leaving Baltimore, laden with cargo and headed for Sri Lanka, when it struck one of the bridge’s supporting columns last month, causing the span to collapse into the Patapsco River and sending six members of a roadwork crew plunging to their deaths.

Divers have recovered three bodies from the underwater wreckage, while the remaining three victims are still unaccounted for.

Crews have been working to remove sections of the fallen bridge and unload containers from the stationary Dali. Officials said they expect to open a third temporary shipping channel by late April, which will allow significantly more commercial traffic to pass through the port of Baltimore. The east coast shipping hub has been closed to most maritime traffic since the bridge collapse blocked access to the port.

Federal safety investigators remain on scene in Baltimore. They’ve conducted numerous interviews, including with the ship’s pilots and crew members, Homendy said during her testimony. She testified at a hearing on her nomination to continue serving as board chair for a second term.

She said the board’s preliminary report on the crash will likely be released early next month.

Safety investigators previously laid out a preliminary timeline leading up to the crash, which federal and state officials have said appeared to be an accident.

Less than an hour after the Dali left Baltimore’s port in the early hours of March 26, signs of trouble came when numerous alarms sounded. About a minute later, steering commands and rudder orders were issued, and at 1:26 a.m. and 39 seconds, a pilot made a general radio call for nearby tugboats. Just after 1:27 a.m., the pilot commanded the ship to drop an anchor on the left side and issued added steering commands. About 20 seconds later, the pilot issued a radio call reporting that the Dali had lost all power approaching the bridge.

Around 1:29 a.m., when the ship was traveling at about 8 mph (13 kph), recordings for about 30 seconds picked up sounds consistent with it colliding with the bridge.

Containers are crushed as wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge rests on the container ship Dali, Wednesday, April 3, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Cranes stand by as the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge rests on the container ship Dali, Saturday, March 30, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

President Joe Biden speaks as Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, right, listens after an operational briefing on the response and recovery efforts of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, Friday, April 5, 2024, in Dundalk, Md. Looking on at second left is Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Containers are crushed as wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge rests on the container ship Dali, Wednesday, April 3, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Cranes stand by as the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge rests on the container ship Dali, Saturday, March 30, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — United Methodist delegates on Friday repealed their church’s longstanding ban on the celebrations of same-sex marriages or unions by its clergy and in its churches.

The action marked the final major reversal of a collection of LGBTQ bans and disapprovals that have been embedded throughout the laws and social teachings of the United Methodist Church over the previous half-century.

The 447-233 vote by the UMC's General Conference came one day after delegates overwhelmingly voted to repeal a 52-year-old declaration that the practice of homosexuality is "incompatible with Christian teaching” and two days after they repealed the denomination's ban on LGBTQ clergy.

It’s the UMC’s first legislative gathering since 2019, one that featured its most progressive slate of delegates in memory following the departure of more than 7,600 mostly conservative congregations in the United States because it essentially stopped enforcing its bans on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ ordination.

The delegates voted to repeal a section in their Book of Discipline, or church law, that states: “Ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in our churches.”

Clergy will neither be required nor prohibited from performing any marriage, according to existing law that the conference affirmed with minor revisions Friday.

On Thursday, delegates approved Revised Social Principles, or statements of the church's values. In addition to removing the language about homosexuality being “incompatible with Christian teaching," that revision also defined marriage as a covenant between two adults, without limiting it to heterosexual couples, as the previous version had done.

But while Social Principles are non-binding, the clause removed on Friday had the force of law.

Regional conferences outside the United States have the ability to set their own rules, however, so churches in Africa and elsewhere with more conservative views on sexuality could retain bans on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy. A pending amendment to the church constitution would also enable the U.S. region to make such adaptations.

The change doesn’t mandate or even explicitly affirm same-sex marriages. But it removes their prohibition. It takes effect Saturday following the close of General Conference.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

United Methodist delegates listen to a debate during their General Conference meeting Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Peter Smith)

The Rev. David Meredith, left, and the Rev. Austin Adkinson sing during a gathering of those in the LGBTQ community and their allies outside the Charlotte Convention Center, in Charlotte, N.C., Thursday, May 2, 2024. They were celebrating after the General Conference of the United Methodist Church voted to remove the denomination's 52-year-old social teaching that deemed homosexuality "incompatible with Christian teaching." (AP Photo/Peter Smith)