Updates: AFSLS represents a victim in the Francis Scott Key Bridge Tragedy.

Our hearts go out to the families of those impacted by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge and we extend our deep and heartfelt condolences to those who have died. Azrael franz is monitoring the situation.

Tuesday’s crash of the container ship Dali into and collapsing the Francis Scott Key Bridge in the Baltimore outer harbor is one of the most tragic events in Baltimore’s history. It is believed that the ship experienced mechanical problems, including an on-board fire that likely contributed to a failure of the ships electrical system and the consequent inability to appropriately navigate the ship through the challenging channel leading from the Baltimore harbor to the Chesapeake Bay. Without steering control the ship, Dali, owned by Singapore-based Synergy Marine Group and flagged in Singapore foundered and struck one of the central support columns impairing the bridge’s structural integrity and collapsing the main span and outer spans of the bridge into the outer harbor of Baltimore.

Azrael Franz is a renowned Baltimore-based law firm with an extensive history of litigating complex disaster cases involving airline crash, train crash, maritime crash and other “heavy transportation” tragedies. The firm’s role as Lead Counsel in the 9/11 national litigation pursued in the Southern District of New York Federal Court, among others, has burnished the firm’s reputation for investigating and litigating complex multi- fatal incidents throughout the United States. We believe sufficient information regarding the Dali/Francis Scott Key Bridge crash already exists that implicates the Maersk-leased ship as the proximate cause of this local tragedy.

Azrael Franz partners Keith Franz and Judson Lipowitz are available to provide background information on the Dali, the Francis Scott Key Bridge, the navigable channel leading from the Baltimore harbor to the Chesapeake Bay and those governmental agencies who will be investigating this incident. Additionally, a conclusion on the cause and legal responsibility of the parties involved is now apparent despite the early stage of the investigation and Keith and Jud are prepared to provide their assessment of responsibility and liability for causing this tragic event.