A cargo ship that crashed into the Baltimore Francis Scott Key Bridge contained a large quantity of hazardous and inflammable materials, the chief of a US investigative agency said, citing primary investigation details.

Jennifer Homendy, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board, said the ship was carrying 56 containers of hazardous materials, weighing a total of 764 tons.

A senior investigator "was able to identify 56 containers of hazardous materials. That’s 764 tons of hazardous materials, mostly corrosives, flammables, and some miscellaneous hazardous materials, class nine hazardous materials, which would include lithium-ion batteries," she said at a news briefing.

The cargo ship MV Dali, with 22 Indian crew members, crashed into the bridge on March 26 after the vessel lost power and became uncontrollable. Six people died in the incident, with four bodies still missing and presumed dead.

The NTSB, responsible for civil transportation accident investigation, has launched a "massive" investigation into the incident, which will involve "many different components", said Homendy, adding that the probe could take up to two years.

“The bridge is a fracture critical. What that means is if a member falls, that would likely cause a portion of, or the entire bridge, to collapse, there’s no redundancy. The preferred method for building bridges today is that there is redundancy built in, whether that’s transmitting loads to another member or some sort of structural redundancy. This bridge did not have redundancy,” Homendy said.

A massive crane has been deployed to clear the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Officials were still surveying the damage.

Source: India Today