US bridge collapse: Indian crew will continue on the ship, report

New Delhi: The Indian crew members on the ship that rammed a bridge in the US city of Baltimore will continue on the vessel, NDTV reported citing The New York Times.

The 20 crew members will stay on looking after the vessel until the mangled remains of the bridge have been cleared.

They will be answering officials as well as ensuring the ship's daily routine work is done.

One of the Indian crew members was taken to a hospital in Baltimore and got stitches and was back on the ship, The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

The ship Dali was heading to Sri Lanka with 4,700 containers, when it struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge after losing power.

Reopening the channel, which is one of the busiest in the US, will take weeks before removing the debris and thus freeing the ship.

The Governor of Maryland on Saturday announced officials’ plans to remove the first piece of the debris.

The New York Times quoted an official as saying that the crew members have amble supplies and enough fuel to keep the generators working.

The ship’s crew was praised for timely alerting the local authorities thus enabling to stop traffic before the accident.

However, six construction workers repairing potholes on the bridge were killed as the structure collapsed.

‘Our information is that there are 21 crew members, of which 20 are Indians. All of them are in good shape, good health. One of them got injured slightly, needed to have some stitches, and stitches have been given. And, he has gone back to the ship,’ MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal was quoted as saying.