Chief engineer of the Dali ship, Karthikeyan Deenadayalan, has entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the United States, admitting to criminal conduct in violation of federal laws, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office.
The agreement comes just one month after an indictment was unsealed in May, charging three people — including Deenadayalan — in connection with the Key Bridge tragedy that claimed the lives of six men.
Deenadayalan previously served as chief engineer of the Motor Vessel Maersk Saltoro and the Motor Vessel Cezanne.
According to court documents, Deenadayalan admitted to violating the Ports and Waterways Safety Act by failing to report a hazardous condition to the United States Coast Guard.
The Statement of Facts within those documents states that Deenadayalan was aware that the Dali, Maersk Saltoro, and Cezanne used an unsafe fuel supply pump.
The pump, known as the “flushing pump,” lacked redundancy — meaning there were no backups, duplicates, or safety nets in place in the event of a mechanical failure. Without redundancy, the Dali’s safe navigation and its ability to recover from a power loss were compromised.
Deenadayalan also admitted that he knew the inability to recover from a loss of power could adversely affect the safety of the ship itself, as well as the bridge, surrounding structures, and the shore area.
Court filings indicate that Deenadayalan had conversations and correspondence with Synergy personnel, including Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair, who was charged in a separate criminal indictment, about the use of the unsafe flushing pump.
Nair allegedly directed Deenadayalan to send a “convincing” email to the charterer of the Dali so the charterer would not ask further questions about fuel consumption, in an effort to prevent information about the flushing pump from being disclosed.
