Explosives will be used to remove a section of the bridge pinning the Dali containership to the riverbed in Baltimore.
The Key Bridge Response Unified Command is scheduled to use precision cuts made with small charges to remove a large section of the Francis Scott Key Bridge wreckage from on top of the boxship, which allided with the bridge on March 26 in what is set to be one of the largest marine casualty claims of all time.
The small charges, a standard controlled demolition tool, will split the large section of truss at specific locations to create multiple, smaller sections, allowing salvors to use cranes and barges already on scene to remove these sections of the bridge and ultimately remove the Dali from the channel.
The steel truss resting on the deck of the Dali is roughly 150 m long, 18 m wide and weighs more than 5,000 tonnes.
The detonation sequence will be timed, so the smaller pieces will fall into the water for later retrieval by salvors, and in a manner that’s unlikely to cause additional damage to the Dali.
Discussing the planned controlled demolition, Captain David O’Connell, Key Bridge response federal on-scene coordinator, said: “By using precision cuts, we reduce risks to our personnel and can safely and efficiently continue clearing the channel for the Port of Baltimore.”
The precision explosive method of extricating the ship from the wreckage is planned to be a multi-day process with a fluid timeline dependent on cooperative weather. Earlier plans to have the Dali removed by tomorrow now look optimistic.
Six members of a roadwork crew plunged to their deaths when the Dali lost power and crashed into one of the bridge’s supporting columns on March 26, an accident that has brought the FBI in to investigate.
