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(BALTIMORE) — The cargo ship that rammed into Baltimore’s Key Bridge in March 2024, shortly after experiencing two blackouts, initially lost power due to an improperly installed wire, the National Transportation Safety Board revealed on Tuesday.

The NTSB further found safety issues related to the Dali’s machinery and electrical systems that prevented the ship from fully recovering following the initial blackout, the agency said.

The Dali, a Singaporean vessel, struck one of the piers on the Key Bridge early on the morning of March 26, 2024, causing the bridge to collapse and killing six construction workers who were filling potholes on the span.

“This tragedy should have never occurred,” National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said during a hearing on Tuesday on the findings of the agency’s 20-month investigation into the crash. “Lives should have never been lost, as with all accidents that we investigate, this was preventable.”

According to the NTSB, on the day of the crash, a wire that had loosened over time due to an unstable connection ultimately disconnected from its breaker, resulting in a loss of propulsion and steering. A label identifying what the wire powered prevented it from being fully inserted into the breaker, the agency found. 

Homendy commended her staff for this discovery.

“Our investigators routinely accomplish the impossible, and this investigation is no different,” she said. “The Dali is almost 1,000 feet, and it’s as long as the Eiffel Tower is high with miles of wiring and thousands of electrical connections. Locating a single wire that is loose among thousands of wires is like looking for a loose bolt in the Eiffel Tower.”

The NTSB said the loose wire could have been identified during inspections, however the agencies said the inspections performed by the ship’s operator, Synergy Marine Group, were not adequate enough.

Following that initial power failure, the NTSB found that multiple parts of the back up systems that were supposed to restore power and functionality to the ship and prevent the loss of propulsion were not configured correctly.

A second blackout occurred due to insufficient fuel pressure after a flushing pump being used to supply fuel to two generators shut off during the initial blackout and wasn’t restarted, the NTSB said. Investigators found the crew’s operation of flushing pump was “inappropriate” because the pump was not able to restart automatically when power was restored following a blackout and had to be restarted manually.

“According to the vessel’s classification society, the operation of the pump as a fuel oil service pump did not meet classification requirements because it was not able to restart automatically,” Barton Barnum, an engineer with the NTSB’s Office of Marine Safety, said during the hearing.

The ship experienced two blackouts while docked the day before the crash, according to the NTSB. The initial blackout was caused by human error, while the second similarly occurred because the flushing pump had shut off, Barnum said.

The NTSB determined that Synergy provided inadequate oversight by not stopping the crew from using the flushing pump as a fuel service pump.

The Dali crew responded quickly and in a timely manner to the first blackout, the NTSB found.

Crews onboard the container ship were able to warn officials about the malfunction, giving them time to close the bridge to oncoming traffic before the crash. 

The NTSB said Tuesday that the workers on the bridge, though, had not received any warnings of Dali’s emergency situation. Had they been notified, they “may have had sufficient time to drive to a portion of the bridge that did not collapse,” Scott Parent, an NTSB highway factors engineer, said.

There are no American National Standards Institute standards for highway workers to receive emergency information regarding life-threatening events in work zones, stressing the “need for effective and immediate communication,” he said. 

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(DEDHAM, Mass.) — The jury has begun deliberations after closing arguments were delivered Friday in the murder trial of Brian Walshe, a father of three accused of killing and dismembering his wife.

The Massachusetts man is accused of killing his wife, 39-year-old Ana Walshe, around New Year’s Day in 2023. He pleaded guilty last month, ahead of the trial, to lying to police following her disappearance and improperly disposing of her body, though he denies he killed his wife and has pleaded not guilty to murder.

Ana Walshe’s body has not been found.

The judge dismissed the jurors to begin their deliberations midday Friday.

Prior to the closing arguments, Judge Diane Freniere told the jury during instructions that they will be able to choose to convict on second-degree murder, not just the first-degree murder charge the prosecution has argued for and includes the element of premeditation.

During the trial’s opening statements last week, defense attorneys said Brian Walshe found his wife dead in bed on New Year’s Day in 2023 and then panicked and lied to police as they investigated her disappearance — but maintained he did not kill her.

Brian Walshe allegedly killed and dismembered his wife, then disposed of her remains in dumpsters, according to prosecutors. The internet history on his devices on Jan. 1, 2023, included searches such as “best way to dispose of a body,” “how long for someone to be missing to inherit,” and “best way to dispose of body parts after a murder,” prosecutors said.

Defense attorney Larry Tipton argued the Commonwealth hadn’t proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Brian Walshe — whom he described as a “loving father and loving husband” — killed his wife or there was any motive to do so.

Positing what might account for the “unspeakable” internet searches and how someone could “dispose of the body of the woman that he adored,” Tipton said, “Could it be something that was sudden, something that was unexpected, something which was unbelievable, something that only a medical examiner would understand, have knowledge of, but not a man like Brian Walshe?”

Tipton conceded there’s evidence Brian Walshe lied and disposed of a body, but argued there was nothing proving that he planned to harm his wife. He claimed the internet search on murder came six hours after his wife died and “upsetting” searches about dismemberment and “cleaning up” do not point to a plan but rather his “disbelief.”

“Why is a man searching now if he had intended to kill his wife?” Tipton asked the jurors. “Where is the evidence of premeditation in thousands of pages of records?”

At the start of the Commonwealth’s closing argument, prosecutor Anne Yas told jurors, “Ana Walshe is dead because he murdered her,” while pointing toward Brian Walshe in the courtroom.

She argued Ana Walshe didn’t die of natural causes — but Brian Walshe killed her and then disposed of her body to hide the evidence.

“The defendant did not want anyone to find Ana’s body and to know how she died, so the defendant bought cutting tools at Lowe’s and Home Depot and he cut up Ana’s body — the woman that he claimed to love — and he threw her into dumpsters,” she said.

Yas argued the evidence shows Brian Walshe intended to kill his wife and was “methodical” — that his claims he misplaced his phone for two days around New Year’s Eve “allowed him to carry out his plan” and have an explanation for police as to why he hadn’t been in contact with her. She said he had a list when he was shopping at Lowe’s.

Yas said their marriage was in “crisis,” and they had been having arguments about Ana Walshe being away from the family due to her job in Washington, D.C. She also claimed Brian Walshe knew his wife was having an affair, which the defense has denied.

“Please do not allow the defendant’s self-serving act of dismembering and disposing of Ana’s body let him get away with this murder,” Yas said.

She urged jurors to use their “common sense” while they deliberate, and that they will “see that the evidence shows there is only one verdict” — guilty of the premeditated first-degree murder of Ana Walshe.

The defense rested on Thursday without calling any witnesses. Freniere noted in court on Thursday that it appeared that Brian Walshe would testify in his defense, based on the defense’s opening statement. Though he ultimately waived his right.

Evidence presented during the two-week trial in Dedham included surveillance footage of a man believed to be Brian Walshe buying tools and other supplies at a Lowe’s on Jan. 1, 2023. A receipt showed that items, including a hacksaw, utility knife, hammer, snips, Tyvek suit, shoeguards, rags and cleaning supplies totaling $462 were purchased with cash.

Additional surveillance footage presented in court showed someone throwing out trash bags at dumpsters on multiple days in early January 2023.

Several blood-stained items recovered from dumpsters by investigators — including a hacksaw, a piece of rug, a towel and hairs — and an unknown tissue were linked to Ana Walshe through DNA testing, a forensic scientist from the Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory testified during the trial.

Blood was also found in the basement of the family’s rental home in Cohasset, another forensic scientist with the crime lab testified.

Ana Walshe was reported missing by her employer on Jan. 4, 2023. Brian Walshe told police at the time that she had a “work emergency” at her job in D.C. and left their Cohasset home on New Year’s Day, according to video of his interview shown in court.

At the time, Brian Walshe and their three children were living in Massachusetts while he was awaiting sentencing in a federal fraud case after pleading guilty to a scheme to sell counterfeit Andy Warhol paintings.

Ahead of the murder trial, Brian Walshe admitted to lying to police amid her disappearance and improperly disposing of her body. His defense said during opening statements that he panicked after finding her dead in bed, calling her death sudden and unexplained.

Jurors heard testimony, including from a D.C. man with whom Ana Walshe was having an affair, that the mother of three was upset about being away from her young children so much — who were 2, 4 and 6 at the time — and that there was stress in the marriage. The defense maintained that the couple were happy.

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(WASHINGTON) — Federal authorities have arrested a Virginia man in connection with the placement of two pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic National Committees the night before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News. 

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