Several individuals lost their lives when a ship collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.The crash is being investigated by the federal government for possible criminal activity.
The FBI and the Coast Guard are investigating if the crew didn’t report a problem with the boat before it left, which caused the disaster.
The bridge fell down at about 1:30 am on March 26 because a big ship called the Dali stopped working and hit the bridge. Six people fixing the holes in the bridge fell into the river and did not survive.
Out of the six people who were killed, the bodies of three have been discovered.
The National Transportation Safety Board is trying to figure out why the really heavy ship lost power and hit the 47-year-old bridge. Last week, the NTSB said they have been looking at the engine room equipment.
The accident stopped shipping in the area and affected the jobs of many workers at the Port of Baltimore.
The US Army Corps of Engineers wants to open the waterway that was blocked by the accident by the end of May.
Tag: Federal authorities
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Federal criminal investigation into collapse of Baltimore bridge starts
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Californian convicted for importing mosaic Hercules from Syria
An ancient floor mosaic, estimated to have been created in modern-day Syria almost two thousand years ago and worth close to $500,000, was found to have been illegally imported by a California man.
According to a news release from the US Attorney’s Office, Mohamad Yassin Alcharihi, 56, was found guilty on one count of entry of fraudulently categorised goods on June 21.
Federal authorities claimed in the release that Alcharihi made a “false classification” regarding the enormous mosaic’s “value and quality.” The antiquated artefacts were sent from Turkey in August 2015 and arrived at the port in Long Beach.
The mosaic, thought to date back to the Byzantine era of the Roman empire, shows a mythological scene: Hercules rescuing Prometheus, who was chained to a rock by other gods for stealing fire.
Alcharihi only paid about $12,000 for the antiquity, which an appraisal expert valued at $450,000, according to the US Attorney’s Office. When he brought the artwork into the US, he lied and declared that he was importing ceramic tiles from Turkey with a value of less than $600, prosecutors said.
The mosaic weighs a whopping 2,000 pounds and is about 15-feet long and 8-feet tall, according to the release. The piece was hidden in a shipping container behind a pile of vases and then shipped via truck to Alcharihi’s home after passing through customs.
It has been stored at a Los Angeles facility since it was seized from Alcharihi’s garage in 2016. The US Attorney’s Office did not immediately return a request for comment about future plans for the artwork.
Alcharihi’s false declarations about the mosaic came just months after the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution condemning the destruction of cultural heritage in Syria. Since the Syrian civil war began in 2011, destruction by ISIS and opportunistic looting has led to the loss of large swaths of artwork and archaeological artifacts. In 2015, ISIS militants reportedly smashed six ancient statues, including one dating back to the second century.
Alcharihi is scheduled to be sentenced next month, according to the news release. He faces a maximum sentence of two years in federal prison.