Dali cargo ship that crashed into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key bridge was 'unseaworthy' with low power supply and an untrained crew, bombshell lawsuit claims

The city of Baltimore is suing the owner and operator of the ship that crashed into Francis Scott Key Bridge last month, claiming the vessel was 'unseaworthy' when it left port.

The 985-ft Dali vessel was manned by 'an incompetent crew' and set sail despite several prior warnings about its safety, the lawsuit states.

Six construction crew workers were killed in the accident, which brought one of America's busiest ports to a grinding halt.

In court documents filed on Monday, city officials, including Mayor Brandon Scott, say the ship's parent company, Grace Ocean Private Ltd, and its operator, Synergy Marine Group, were 'potentially criminally negligent'.

The city claims the ship set sail despite 'alarms showing an inconsistent power supply' and accuses the boat's owner of supplying it with 'unseaworthy equipment, systems, and appurtenances'.

The city of Baltimore is suing the owner and operator of the ship that crashed into Francis Scott Key Bridge last month, claiming the vessel was 'unseaworthy' when it left port

Mayor Brandon Scott is seeking substantial but unspecified damages which could total well over $40million to replace the bridge and cover the cost of disruption to the port

It also alleges that the 21-man crew, 20 of whom were Indian nationals, lacked proper skill and training and 'failed to comply with local navigation customs'.

The boat had been piloted by specialized local pilots trained to avoid obstacles at ports.

It is thought the vessel lost power after it left its port, causing it to veer off course and crash into a column supporting the bridge, although a formal report into the causes is yet to be completed.

'None of this should have happened,' the city's lawsuit says. 'Reporting has indicated that, even before leaving port, alarms showing an inconsistent power supply on the Dali had sounded. The Dali left port anyway, despite its clearly unseaworthy condition.'

The claim adds that a back-up generator on board was not powerful enough to get the boat back under control after it lost power at 1.24am, meaning it hit the bridge at approximately 7 knots.

Baltimore is seeking significant but unspecified damages to pay for the replacement of the bridge, the costs of the port closure, and increased expenditure of public service workers, among other costs.

'The City is pursuing its legal claims against those responsible for the Key Bridge catastrophe to ensure that the City, its residents, and its businesses are adequately compensated for their losses,' the Baltimore City Law Office said in a statement.

A spokesman for Grace Ocean and Synergy said that it would be inappropriate to comment while U.S. Coast Guard and the FBI were still investigating the crash.

Both companies filed a petition on April 1 in Maryland federal court to limit their liability to $42.5million.

The petition cites a pre-Civil War protection that means their liability can be capped at the value of the vessel's remains after a casualty.

It also categorically denied any wrongdoing on their part in the incident.

'The casualty was not due to any fault, neglect, or want of care on the part of petitioners [Grace Ocean and Synergy], the vessel, or any persons or entities for whose acts petitioners may be responsible,' the filing said.

Mayor Scott has argued against any limit and the city will likely seek significantly more than $42.5million in damages.

The claim will be decided by a federal court in Maryland.

The 985-ft Dali vessel was manned by 'an incompetent crew' and set sail despite several prior warnings about its safety, the lawsuit states

Six construction workers who fell into the river when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed are presumed dead as the Coast Guard calls of the search

Last week, the FBI launched a criminal probe into whether any of the crew members, who remain on board, knew of serious problems with the Dali before setting sail.

The National Transportation Safety Board is also conducting its own inquiry into the cause of the crash.

The initial stages of the probe are focusing on the electrical power system of the massive container ship that veered off course.

Investigators are also examining the bridge design and how it could be built with better pier protection.

Salvage crews are continuing to extract sections of the fallen bridge, including those entangled in a muddy mess at the bottom of the Patapsco River.

Officials said they still expect to open a third temporary shipping channel by late April, which will allow significantly more commercial traffic to pass through the port of Baltimore. The east coast shipping hub has been closed to most maritime traffic since the bridge collapse, which blocked access to its main channel.

Joe Biden called for the federal government to pay for the full cost of reconstructing the bridge and greenlighted Maryland's request of $60m to aid initial recovery efforts.

Miguel Luna (left), 49, of Guatemala and Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes (right), 36, from Mexico were two of the six construction crew who died after the shipping container crashed into the Baltimore bridge they were working on in the early hours of March 26

The six men who were killed in the crash were part of a Central and South American construction crew fixing potholes on the bridge.

The distraught mother of Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 36, whose body was found inside of a red pickup truck that had sunk 25 feet into the river, told DailyMail.com she wished she had told him how much she loved him the last time they spoke.

Obduelia Fuentes said her son, a father-of-four, had followed to her to the US from Mexico in 2006 because 'he couldn’t bear to be without his mother'.

His body was pulled from the pickup truck alongside that of Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Guatemala.

Miguel Luna, 49, and Jose Mynor Lopez, 35, also of Guatemala, Maynor Suazo, 37, of Honduras, and Carlos Hernández, of Mexico, were the other victims.