Did Cyberattack Cause Dali To Hit Baltimore Bridge?!

Did a cyberattack cause the Dali to hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, causing it to collapse?!

Take a look at the viral claims, and find out what the facts really are!

 

Claim : Cyberattack Caused Dali To Hit Baltimore Bridge!

Right after news broke that the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed after being hit by a massive container ship, some people immediately began suggesting there was more to the tragedy than meets the eyes…

Alex Jones : Looks deliberate to me. A cyber-attack is probable. WW3 has already started..

Andrew Tate : This ship was cyber-attacked. Lights go off and it deliberately steers towards the bridge supports. Foreign agents of the USA attack digital infrastructures. Nothing is safe. Black Swan event imminent.

Recommended : Baltimore Bridge Collapse Conspiracies Debunked!

No Evidence Cyberattack Caused Dali To Hit Baltimore Bridge!

This appears to be yet another example of fake news created or promoted by conspiracy theorists and conspiracists, and here are the reasons why…

Fact #1 : Dali Lost Power Before Hitting Baltimore Bridge!

Let me start by simply pointing out that the Dali – a massive container ship, only hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, after it lost engine power.

The Dali lost power soon after leaving the Port of Baltimore in the middle of the night. Not only were the crew blinded in the dark, none of its electronics worked and there was no propulsion, so they were unable to control the ship.

As the crew tried unsuccessfully to restart its engine, a local pilot onboard the vessel ordered the ship to be steered to port (left), and the anchor to be dropped. While the crew managed to restore electrical power using an emergency generator, they were not able to restart its engines.

With the ship floating adrift, the two local pilots onboard issued a mayday call at 1:30 AM to warn authorities that a collision was imminent, which allowed them to stop traffic from going over the bridge. A Maryland Transportation Authority official was recorded saying at that time:

There’s a ship approaching that has lost their steering. Until you’ve got that under control, we’ve got to stop all traffic.

The video below, which is being shared on WhatsApp, does not accurately reflect the truth – the ship never regained the use of its engines, but it clearly shows when the ship lost power, and when it restored electrical power.

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Fact #2 : No Evidence Dali Was Hit By Cyberattack

Despite claims by people with unnamed “inside sources”, there is simply no evidence that the Dali was hit by a cyberattack which steered it right into a bridge in Baltimore.

Built by Hyundai Heavy Industries, the Dali is powered by a single MAN 9-cylinder S90ME-C9.2 crosshead diesel engine. It also has a single 3,000 kW bow thruster for manoeuvring in ports, and four diesel generators for electricity.

While those engines, and controls, may be connected to a SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition), they are not connected to the Internet. Even if the Dali’s SCADA system was somehow taken over by malware, the lack of Internet connectivity would make it impossible for any hacker to steer it into the bridge.

An early Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) report appears to rule out an intentional or act of terrorism, finding that the Dali “lost propulsion” as it was leaving port.

The Baltimore Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said in a press statement, that “There is no specific and credible information to suggest any ties to terrorism at this time.

United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron also dismissed those claims in a public statement, saying “There is no evidence at this time to suggest that today’s collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore has any ties to terrorism.

If the Dali was indeed hit by a cyberattack before its crash, there would be evidence of hacking or malware in its SCADA system. However, until such evidence is discovered, anyone who tells out that it was definitely hit by a cyberattack is likely lying to you.

Unsurprisingly, none of those who claimed that a cyberattack caused the Dali to lose power and hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge ever provided a single shred of evidence from behind their keyboards.

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Fact #3 : Ship Loss Of Power Is Common

The loss of power is common in the maritime industry (source) – as many as 600 cases each year according to FuelTrust, although most occur in open water. They are often associated with poorly mixed fuel, or changing from high-sulphur to low-sulphur fuels when entering coastal emission control areas (ECAs).

In fact, shipping experts think “dirty fuel” may be the reason for Dali to lose power before smashing into the Francis Scott Key Bridge (source).

That power loss could have been caused by dirty fuel clogging filters that lead to the ship’s main generator.

While inside a port, as the Dali was before the collision, ships typically run on a relatively light diesel fuel. That also could have been contaminated. Common contaminants include water, dirt and algae. He definitely could have had dirty fuel

– Gerald Scoggins, a veteran chief engineer in the oil and gas industry and the CEO of the Houston company Deepwater Producers

Ian Ralby, the CEO of I.R. Consilium, a maritime and resource security consultancy, also said heavy marine fuel loaded onto ships in port is mixed with what is called cutter stock, and is prone to being loaded with contaminants and is not closely regulated. Such dirty fuel could have “gummed up all of the fuel lines on the ship.”

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

 

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