Doomed Dali ship's audio black box reveals multiple alarms were blaring in moments leading up to collision with Key Bridge and that pilot frantically requested tug boat help and for anchor to be dropped

• Officials have retrieved six hours of audio black box data from the doomed ship  
• In the minutes before, alarms blared, and the pilot requested urgent help  
• It comes as two bodies have been pulled from the wreck 

Multiple alarms sounded on board the doomed Dali cargo ship in the minutes before it collided with Baltimore’s Key Bridge, new black box audio data revealed.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it received six hours of audio from the ship’s voyage data stretching from midnight until 6am. The vessel impacted moments before 1:30am.

Marcel Muise, the NTSB lead investigator in the case, said Wednesday that alarms began blaring on the ship at 1:24am.

At 1:26am, the ship’s pilot requested urgent help from nearby tug boats, and at 1:27am he ordered the ship’s anchor be dropped.

The exact cause of the catastrophe that has left at least six people dead is still under investigation, with some form of mechanical failure speculated as footage also showed the ship’s lights turning on and off several times in the moments before.

Multiple alarms sounded on board the doomed Dali cargo ship in the minutes before it collided with Baltimore’s Key Bridge (pictured the morning after the impact on Tuesday)

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy addresses a press conference on Wednesday, alongside chief investigator Marcel Muise (left)

The new data was revealed at a press conference on Wednesday, where NTSB Chief Jennifer Homendy confirmed all 23 crewmembers – including two temporary pilots intended to only safely steer the vessel out of port – were safe.

Over 4,600 cargo units were on board the ship, 56 of which contained hazardous materials. Homendy said some of the hazardous cargo was breached, but did not indicate it posed a public safety threat.

After Muise offered details of alarms sounding off in the moments before impact, Honendy said the data falls short of what investigators would expect if they were investigating a similar catastrophe involving an aircraft.

She said the NTSB has sought more detailed data from ship’s voyage data recorders for a long time, and said they are instead fitted with apparatus that can only record basic data.

Although the Dali ship featured a newer model than others, the NTSB chair said that it is still ‘very basic’ compared to what investigators would expect from an aircraft’s black box.

This means that while the Dali data incudes the ship’s location and rudder commands alongside audio, it does not record important details such as power distribution data.

Homendy concluded that the cargo ship has been left in a state of ‘utter devastation’ and has ‘structural damage everywhere’, as it continues to be anchored in place on the Patapsco River.

The ship, a 948-foot-long DALI operated by Singaporean company Synergy Group, collided with the 1.7-mile bridge shortly after it departed the Port of Baltimore on Monday

Crews saved two men from the collapse, with six other construction crew workers either presumed dead or their remains have been found

Rescue personnel gather on the shore of the Patapsco River on Tuesday

The vessel has remained in place as dive crews continue to carry out search missions for victims., with six construction workers who were working on the bridge at the time of the collapse now presumed dead.

Officials admitted their efforts have turned to a search mission for bodies, with two of the six workers found as of Thursday morning.

The two men, identified as 35-year-old Alejandro Hernandez Fuentez of Baltimore, and 26-year-old Darlene Rania El Castillo Cabrera of Dundalk, were brought to shore on Wednesday morning, police confirmed. Both men’s families have been informed.

‘The teams made a tragic finding shortly before 10:00 ET with a red pickup truck near the bridge’ Ronald L Butler from Maryland State Police said at a briefing on Wednesday evening.

‘Divers recovered two victims trapped within the vehicle’ he told reporters.

‘My heart, and the heart of the entire city of Baltimore, is with you and will be with you forever’ Mayor Brandon Scott said of the victim’s families.

Two other victims that have been identified are Maynor Suazo, 37, a native of Honduras, and Miguel Luna, 49.

The first of the six victims identified was Miguel Luna, 49, and officials say he and the five other missing men are presumed dead

Maynor Suazo, 37, a native of Honduras has been named as another victim

The bridge spans 9,000 feet across the Patapsco River and is 180 feet above the water

As investigations over the cause of the wreck continue, much of the focus has fallen on potential mechanical faults within the ship.

Officials were quick to rule out the catastrophe as intentional or an act of terrorism, and an early Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) report found the container ship ‘lost propulsion’ as it was leaving port.

‘The vessel notified MD Department of Transportation (MDOT) that they had lost control of the vessel and an allision with the bridge was possible,’ the report said. ‘The vessel struck the bridge causing a complete collapse.’

Observers were quick to note that the ship’s exterior lights went out twice in the moments before impact, suggesting the vessel may have suffered some form of mechanical failure.

Homendy was questioned over this possibility on Wednesday morning, as she also dismissed reports that officials were looking into contaminated fuel as a culprit.

‘We’ve heard the reports, but that’s way too early for us, we have a lot of information we are gathering,’ she said.

Read more