As The Gateway Pundit reported earlier the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy announced the voyage data recorder known as the “black box’ was recovered from the DALI cargo ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key bridge early Tuesday morning.
On Tuesday evening, Homendy and NTSB investigator Marcel Muise held a press conference to reveal the data on the DALI’s black box, also known as the Voyage Data Recorder (VDR).
NTSB investigator Marcel Muise revealed there were about six hours of VDR on data and included a timeline of midnight to 6 am.
Before revealing the data on the VDR, Muise warned that the quality of the voice recording and radio data was hard to comprehend due to background noise.
Muise then shared that the “VDR sensor data ceased recording. The VDR audio continued to record using the redundant power source.”
“VDR resumed recording sensor data, and during this time, steering commands and rutter orders were recorded on the audio,” added Muise.
Muise continued, “The ship’s pilot made a very high-frequency radio call for tugs in the vicinity to assist. About this time, the pilot dispatcher phoned the Maryland Transportation Authority duty officer regarding the blackout.”
He concluded his statement by adding that “The ship’s speed over ground was recorded at just under 7 knots. From this moment to approximately 1:29:33, the VDR audio recorded sounds consistent with the collision of the bridge.”
WATCH:
NTSB Reveals Data on DALI’s Black Box
Sensors’s Mysteriously Cut off
Voice recording too hard to understand due to background noise pic.twitter.com/ALlz7qYIXc
— Anthony Scott (@AnthonyScottTGP) March 28, 2024
Before the content on the black box was revealed, Homendy noted a group of operations and engineering groups boarded the DALI to do a walk-through of the ship’s bridge and engine room to find any electronic recorders, cameras, or CCTV footage but could not find any.
WATCH:
NTSB Engineers Were Able to Board DALI But Found NO CCTV Footage, Cameras Or Any Downloadable Data@gatewaypundit pic.twitter.com/Asv3Z5ZOyx
— Anthony Scott (@AnthonyScottTGP) March 28, 2024
Per The Washington Post:
The alarms first sounded on the Dali around 1:24 a.m. Tuesday, an NTSB official said in a Wednesday evening news conference, citing preliminary information from the container ship’s voice data recorder.
About a minute and a half later, the ship’s pilot used a high-frequency radio to request assistance, helping to alert the on-duty Maryland Transportation Authority officer. The pilot called for “tugs in the vicinity,” which help vessels leave the port and get into its main channel. Before the Dali hit the bridge, it had no tugs. Thirty seconds later, the pilot ordered the ship’s anchor to be dropped and gave “additional steering commands,” said Marcel Muise, the lead investigator.
At 1:27 a.m., the pilot reported that the Dali had lost all power and was approaching the bridge, Muise said. At the time, there were two Maryland Transportation Authority units at the scene because of the ongoing construction, and those units shut down all lanes of traffic on the bridge, according to Muise.
He said the voice data recorder captured “sounds consistent with the collision” at 1:29 a.m. Around this time, the lights on the Key Bridge also went out.
Watch the entire press conference below:
