Grand Jury Indicts Ship Operators in Key Bridge Collapse

A federal grand jury has indicted the companies responsible for operating the cargo ship involved in the 2024 collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, a disaster that sent the bridge into the Patapsco River and claimed the lives of six construction workers.

According to an indictment unsealed May 12 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, defendants include Synergy Marine, Synergy Maritime, and employee Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair.

Prosecutors charged the companies with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government, failure to report hazardous conditions, obstruction, and aiding and abetting misconduct or neglect by ship officers resulting in death, among other offenses. Nair also faces four related charges in his individual capacity.