Attorneys representing the city of Baltimore are asking a federal judge to prevent some of the crew members from the cargo ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge from leaving the country.
In a Tuesday court filing, the attorneys claimed that they were informed earlier that day that some of the Dali crew members would be leaving the country as soon as Thursday. The crew has been on the vessel since the bridge collapsed in March. The city’s attorneys requested an emergency conference, acknowledging that the court would be closed Wednesday due to the Juneteenth federal holiday, to attempt to keep the crew from leaving the country as investigations continue.
“The vessel and its entire crew are presently at Seagirt Marine Terminal in Baltimore, as law enforcement investigations and repairs of the vessel are ongoing,” the filing reads. “The crew consists entirely of foreign nationals who, of course, have critical knowledge and information about the events giving rise to this litigation. If they are permitted to leave the United States, Claimants may never have the opportunity to question or depose them.”
Judge James Bredar of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Maryland was skeptical of the attorneys’ request to hold the crew in the country but scheduled a conference for Thursday and requested that federal authorities keep the crew in the jurisdiction until the conclusion of the hearing.
“Given this turn of events, the Court will set in a Hearing, requiring the presence of certain counsel,” Bredar said in a filing Tuesday. “The Parties will be expected to discuss the Court’s authority to order the relief sought in the Motions. The Court will also review the chain of events that led to Petitioners’ email announcing the imminent departure of the crew members.”
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The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday in Baltimore.
The Key Bridge collapse wreaked havoc on the Port of Baltimore, which fully reopened on June 10 — nearly three months after the bridge fell in the early morning hours of March 26. Six construction workers who were on the bridge when it went down died.