BALTIMORE — Karthikeyan Deenadayalan, the chief engineer of the container ship Dali, was charged in U.S. District Court in Maryland with one count of violating the federal Port and Waterways Safety Act. Prosecutors filed a notice of a deferred prosecution agreement in court.

Court documents state that Deenadayalan served as the Dali's chief engineer while it was docked in the Port of Baltimore before a collision. Prosecutors allege Deenadayalan failed to notify the U.S. Coast Guard about an unapproved fuel pump that lacked a backup system and was powering two ship generators.

The Dali experienced two total power losses within a four-minute span as it departed the Port of Baltimore. The vessel collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge during the early morning hours of March 26, 2024. The vessel struck a bridge support column and killed six construction workers who were performing pothole repairs.

The terms of the deferred prosecution agreement were not disclosed. Typically, such agreements are structured to drop charges against a defendant who fulfills specified conditions. Investigators determined a loose wire in a switchboard likely caused the initial power loss, resulting in steering failure. A second blackout occurred because the fuel pump on two generators was not configured to restart automatically after a power outage.

The bridge opened to public traffic in 1977 and carries a high volume of daily vehicular traffic. Grace Ocean Private Limited has not faced criminal charges in connection with the bridge collapse.