Dali’s last inspection took place in New York in September – and no issues were found.
On Tuesday evening, Clay Diamond, executive director of the American Pilots’ Association, revealed new details about the collision in the Patapsco River.
He said the pilot controlling the Singapore-flagged ship called Dali tried to slow down when the vessel went off course at around 1.30am.
It started with a loss of power, including to the engines, before the pilot ordered the rudder hard to port in an effort to stop it turning right.
Diamond told Associated Press they tried to contact the bridge to close it down and that the ship regained power due to an emergency generator firing up moments before impact.
The emergency generators turned the lights back on – as seen in video circulating online – but not the ship’s propulsion.
He added that every foreign-flagged ship coming into U.S. waters must have a “highly trained” state-licensed pilot on board.
Pilots board the ships before they enter the local waterways and take “navigational control,” meaning they give orders for the ship’s speed and direction.
Diamond added: “These are among the most highly trained mariners in the world.”
Interstate 695, a 51-mile highway, runs along the bridge and five vehicles are also believed to have fallen into the water.
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