Federal prosecutors have reached a deferred prosecution agreement with the chief engineer of the containership Dali, with the veteran Indian mariner admitting to conduct constituting a criminal violation of the Ports and Waterways Safety Act for failing to report a known hazardous condition aboard the vessel before its catastrophic allision with Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge.
The agreement, announced Friday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, marks the first admission of criminal wrongdoing by an individual directly involved in operating the vessel at the center of one of the worst maritime disasters in recent U.S. history.
Chief Engineer Karthikeyan Deenadayalan admitted that he was aware the Dali and two sister ships—the Maersk Saltoro and Cezanne—were operating with an unsafe fuel supply arrangement that lacked redundancy and could impair the vessels’ ability to recover from a power loss.
According to the statement of facts filed with the agreement, the vessels used a flushing pump as part of their fuel supply system even though it was not designed to automatically restart following a blackout. Deenadayalan admitted he understood that the lack of redundancy posed a hazard to the safe navigation of the vessels and could endanger bridges, structures and shore facilities, yet failed to report the condition to the U.S. Coast Guard as required by law.
The deferred prosecution agreement allows prosecutors to suspend criminal prosecution provided Deenadayalan complies with the terms of the agreement. The criminal information filed against him alleges a violation of the Ports and Waterways Safety Act, though prosecutors emphasized that criminal charges remain allegations unless proven in court.
The irresistible force met the immovable object. Both lost.
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