No conspiracy talk please.
The ship had a catastrophic electrical power failure as it approached the bridge. Wind and tide caused a radical and uncontrolled change of course (see last two Suez canal accidents).
Key Bridge was very old and under constant repair every day for at least the last 30yrs.
It could not have been a better time for the worst to happen. Hour and a half before rush hour. Casualties should be light. Mostly from bridge repair crews.
@Render @thereg001 TIL that when navigating in and out of complex/tight ports, specialized local pilots familiar with the port take over the navigation of the ships. This happened per protocol here. Such an unfortunate series of events with the ship itself. :/
Yes, there were two harbor pilots onboard when the accident happened.
@thereg001
I suspect that it was at least a consideration.
Bethlehem Steel's old Sparrows Point steel mill and shipyard is at the north end of the bridge. They built cargo ships close to that size through two wars.
The aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea was scrapped in Baltimore Harbor and had to be towed under the Key bridge to get to the scrapping site.
Nothing is really designed to deal with 116 thousand tons hitting it at around 7 knots.