Loose cable may have contributed to DALI blackout before Key Bridge collapse

We're coming up on six months since the Key Bridge collapse.

Questions remain unanswered how the DALI container ship lost power just a couple minutes before crashing into the bridge.

Now we're learning of a loose cable discovered aboard the DALI could've contributed.

The cable in question is supposed to connect with a control line for blackout detection.

In turn the control line helps protect the ship's low voltage transformer and switchboard.

When not properly connected, the switchboard can lose power without ever being recorded on the ship's sensor.

Engineers simulated how quick an outage could take place if cables aren't secured.

These latest revelations come from newly released NTSB documents highlighting an examination of the DALI's machinery and electrical equipment.

Investigators have not concluded whether the loose cable is directly linked to a pair of ship outages prior to the collision.

In May the NTSB issued a preliminary investigative report detailing how two electrical breakers, responsible for feeding most of the ship’s equipment and lighting, failed.

This caused the DALI's main engine to shut down along with the cooling water and steering gear pumps.

As result, the ship's propeller stopped leaving the rudder inoperable, triggering two emergency generators to kick in.

Briefly after power was restored, another pair of breakers tripped 0.2 miles from the bridge.

Despite closing them off and regaining power, the propeller never recovered.

Investigators later found out the DALI twice lost power beforehand while undergoing maintenance at the Port of Baltimore.

The first time a crew member "mistakenly closed an inline engine exhaust damper," which investigators say "effectively blocked the engine’s cylinder exhaust gases from traveling up its stack and out of the vessel, causing the engine to stall."

Power outage number two stemmed from insufficient fuel pressure creating more breaker issues.

Crews decided to switch breakers since they'd been heavily used over the last several months.

Turns out the breakers that got switched out are the ones that later failed before the crash.

Again, it's unclear if the loose cable played any role.

As for the DALI, it's scheduled to sail to China this weekend after having been docked in Norfolk, Virginia since late June.

Several lawsuits and investigations into the crash remain ongoing .

Dali owners and operators, Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine PTE, have denied any fault or neglect.

On the bridge front, major progress has been made over the last couple of weeks.

The state awarded Kiewit Infrastructure Co. a $73 million contract to design a new bridge. Overall it's estimated a new bridge will cost $1.7 billion. President Joe Biden has vowed to have the federal government foot the bill.

Maryland's also collected a $350 million dollar insurance payout .

If all goes according to plan, officials say a new bridge could be up by Fall 2028.