Latest news with #Dali
CBS News
2 days ago
- General
- CBS News
New transcript reveals frantic scene aboard Dali before Key Bridge collapse
Conversations among the Dali's two Maryland-based pilots and its foreign crew members portray an unremarkable beginning to the container ship's departure from Baltimore last year. The senior pilot had stepped on a staple at home, he told the others. The Dali's voyage to Sri Lanka would take one week longer than usual to avoid piracy in the Red Sea, the captain said. The apprentice pilot requested a little bit of sugar with his coffee. This story by Hayes Gardner continues. Read the rest at The Baltimore Banner: New transcript reveals frantic scene aboard Dali before Key Bridge collapse
CBS News
26-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Maryland could face billions in lawsuits related to 2024 Key Bridge collapse
Maryland could be facing billions of dollars in new lawsuits related to the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in March 2024. Six construction workers were killed after the cargo ship Dali collided with the bridge. According to The Washington Post, more than 20 entities have filed notice to sue the state. Those announcing their intent to sue include two survivors and families of the six people who died, according to The Post, which obtained their letters sent to the state treasurer through a public records request. They also include people who said their homes were damaged in the collapse and businesses impacted by the closure of the Port of Baltimore. The Post reports many of them cited comments by the NTSB chair saying Maryland failed to analyze the risk of a bridge collapse before the tragedy. "So, yes, MDTA would've known the risk and could've taken action to safeguard the Key Bridge," NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said in a March news conference. "Had they done that, the collapse could have been prevented." Lawsuit timetable Those planning to sue civilly over the Key Bridge tragedy have up to three years from the incident to file their lawsuits. Some are joining the state in blaming the owner and operator of the Dali, and are waiting to formally sue until James K. Bredar, a Baltimore-based federal judge, decides whether the damages can be capped at the value of the ship and its cargo. Depositions of crew members are currently underway. Several are scheduled to take place in London in June, according to court documents reviewed by WJZ Investigates. The state is pushing to make them public, but Dali's owner reportedly wants the crew's answers shielded from public view, citing an ongoing criminal investigation by the FBI. Lawyer Billy Murphy previously told WJZ those depositions are crucial. "This, of course, may be the most expensive maritime case in the history of the world," Murphy said last June. "We were concerned that the men would be spirited away, never to be seen again. The promise that was made was that these people would be produced when we ask them to be produced." A status report filed last month by Maryland's attorney general revealed there are almost 700,000 pages of documents that have already been turned over as part of this massive case. Judge Bredar could rule on the issue of whether damages should be capped by the end of this year. The federal lawsuit is expected to head to trial next year. Vulnerable bridges The NTSB also found that the state failed to review the collision risk at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. A Johns Hopkins University team studying the risks found both bridges were vulnerable, and the Key Bridge would have been among the top ten most at-risk bridges in the country. "We have for a long time underestimated the risk to existing bridges around the United States, and in fact, what we saw with the Key Bridge was not an aberration. It was consistent with historical precedent," Michael Shields, an associate professor of civil systems and engineering at Johns Hopkins University, told WJZ after the study's release. "Not only do you see larger ships—much, much larger ships—but you also see many more of them, which changes the risk profile considerably." The state will spend $160 million on protection measures at the Bay Bridge. They are considering pier fenders and artificial islands to protect the supports, and slowing down vessels as they move beneath it. "The probability that a ship will collide with the bridge is a real possibility, and it's something that is not just possible but potentially likely in our lifetime," Shields said. When asked about it last March, NTSB chair Homendy said, "We don't want this to occur. Certainly, the same type of traffic goes under the Bay Bridge, but at higher speeds, and so what we are trying to do is prevent something in the future." MDTA expected more than 340,000 vehicles to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge this Memorial Day weekend alone, between Friday and Monday.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
Stowaway Found Guilty of Hiding in Plane Bathroom on Flight from N.Y.C. to Paris Faces Up to 6 Months in Prison
Svetlana Dali, 57, was found guilty of a federal stowaway charge by jurors in a Brooklyn court on Thursday, May 22 Dali could face up to six months in prison after being convicted On Nov. 26, 2024, she slipped past security and airline gate agents at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City and boarded a Delta Airlines flight to Charles de Gaulle Airport in France without a ticketA woman who stowed away in the bathrooms of a Delta Airlines flight from New York City to Paris in November 2024 has been convicted of a federal stowaway charge. Jurors determined in a Brooklyn court on Thursday, May 22 that Svetlana Dali, 57, was guilty of slipping past security and airline gate agents at John F. Kennedy International Airport in N.Y.C. and boarding a Delta flight to Charles de Gaulle Airport in France on Nov. 26 without a ticket, according to NBC News, ABC News and Associated Press. Dali — who has been in custody for more than five months — could face up to six months in prison, according to sentencing guidelines, per the outlets. The judge presiding over the trial has not yet set a sentencing date. Dali's attorney, Michael Schneider, did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment. The 57-year-old's trial lasted about two days with jury selection and opening statements having been made on Tuesday, May 20. Dali, who is a Russian citizen with U.S. residency testified a day later that she had gone to "where the people were boarding the flights," and then she "just walked into the airplane," according to ABC News. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. She said airline staff did not ask her for a boarding pass and admitted that she did not have one, per the outlet. Surveillance video shown during the trial showed Dali blending in with a group of airline passengers and walking past Delta Airlines staffers checking tickets, per AP. She then said, per NBC News and ABC News, that she stayed in the bathroom "almost the duration of the flight, almost from the beginning to the end" because she felt sick. Prosecutors cited charging documents in court, saying Dali initially failed to get through a TSA security checkpoint around 8:24 p.m. on the day of the flight because she did not have a boarding pass, but successfully made it through a few minutes later via "a special lane for airline employees masked by a large Air Europa flight crew." After being screened, Dali boarded the flight around 10:03 p.m. while Delta agents were "busy helping ticketed passengers board," according to court documents. The plane departed around 10:37 p.m., but before landing in Paris, she was discovered by the flight crew, who "notified French law enforcement" after she couldn't provide a boarding pass. Authorities in France then met her at the gate at Charles de Gaulle Airport on Nov. 27, where she was "detained before she entered customs." According to the complaint, Dali flew back to New York on Dec. 4 and was "escorted" to an interview room before admitting to "flying as a stowaway." Prosecutors said, per NBC News, that Dali was initially released from custody with an electric monitoring system, but she was detained again after allegedly cutting it off and attempting to enter Canada. They also noted that she had tried to bypass security measures at two other airports prior to this incident, including at Bradley International Airport near Hartford, Conn., but was unsuccessful at getting on a plane and eventually left the airport, the outlet reported. TSA Administrator David Pekoske told NBC News in December that Dali was "screened," and that bypassing security checkpoints was "not that easy" and "rarely happens." He added that she was trying to evade checkpoints during an "incredibly busy day" of Thanksgiving travel. A TSA spokesperson told ABC News that in light of the incident, 'additional security measures are now in place." The spokesperson added, "TSA's security measures are always evolving to ensure this type of incident does not happen again.' Read the original article on People
NBC News
23-05-2025
- NBC News
57-year-old stowaway who flew from New York to Paris found guilty
A jury on Thursday convicted a woman who sneaked onto a flight from New York to Paris without a boarding pass by slipping past security and airline gate agents at John F. Kennedy International Airport last year. The short trial of Svetlana Dali concluded with a guilty finding on a stowaway charge by jurors in federal court in Brooklyn. Jury selection and opening statements were both Tuesday, and Dali took the stand Wednesday. The judge did not immediately set a sentencing date. Dali faces up to six months in prison, according to her sentencing guidelines. To date, she has been in custody for more than five months. Dali's lawyer, Michael Schneider, declined to comment to The Associated Press following the verdict. Surveillance video shows Dali, a 57-year-old Russian citizen with U.S. residency, glomming onto a group of ticketed passengers as they pass two Delta Air Lines staffers who were checking tickets and didn't appear to notice Dali. She then strolls with the group onto an air bridge to a plane bound for Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. In court, Dali said she walked onto the plane without being asked for a boarding pass, though acknowledged she did not have one. Prosecutors said Dali had initially been turned away from a security checkpoint at JFK by a Transportation Security Administration official after she was unable to show a boarding pass. But she was able to join a special security lane for airline employees and, masked by a large Air Europa flight crew, made it to an area where she was screened and patted down. Then she went to the Delta gate. On the plane, prosecutors say she hid in a bathroom for several hours and wasn't discovered by Delta crew members until the plane was nearing Paris. Dali told the court she went in there because she was feeling sick. Crew members notified French authorities, who detained her before she entered customs at the Paris airport, according to court documents. She was eventually flown back to New York. During two hours of questioning by an FBI agent, Dali said she flew to France because she had to the leave the U.S., where she said police refused to protect her from people who were poisoning her, according to court documents. Dali was initially released after her arrest with electric monitoring. But she then was arrested again in Buffalo, New York, after she cut off the monitor and tried to enter Canada. Prosecutors said Dali evaded security measures at two other airports before the JFK incident, and they believe she may have stowed away on another flight. Two days before she sneaked on the Paris flight, she was able to get through TSA, identification and boarding pass checkpoints at Bradley International Airport near Hartford, Connecticut, by hiding among other passengers. Authorities said she unsuccessfully tried to get on a plane and then left the airport. In February 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents discovered Dali hiding in a bathroom at Miami International Airport, prosecutors said. Dali, who was found in a secured area in the international arrivals zone, was fingerprinted, her baggage was checked and she was escorted out of the airport, after the agents couldn't confirm her story that she had just arrived on an Air France flight and was waiting for her husband, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said federal agents did not make any findings that Dali had illegally traveled as a stowaway to Miami, but her statements to law enforcement after her arrest in Paris appeared to indicate that she had flown into Miami illegally. Dali told authorities that she returned to the U.S. in February 2024 after spending time in Europe, but there were no records of her being admitted to the U.S. within the past five years.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Yahoo
Jury convicts woman accused of sneaking onto a flight at JFK Airport
Editor's note: The video aired on Dec. 16, 2024 NEW YORK (PIX11) — The woman accused of stowing away on a Delta Airlines flight from John F. Kennedy Airport to Paris was convicted by a jury, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced Thursday. According to the complaint filed in court, Dali allegedly snuck through a special lane for airline employees at JFK, masked by a large flight crew on the night of Nov. 26, just before 8:30 p.m. More Local News Prosecutors said Dali was later able to bypass employees at the airline gate because they were busy helping other passengers and did not stop the woman for a ticket. On the flight, Delta employees realized Dali had boarded without their consent and contacted French authorities to detain her, according to the complaint. Law enforcement officials said Dali admitted to flying as a stowaway and intentionally looked for opportunities to bypass TSA. After returning to the U.S., Dali was arrested in Buffalo in December 2024, after allegedly cutting off her ankle monitor and taking a bus to the Canadian border, sources said. She was stopped and detained. The guidelines for Dali's sentencing range from zero to six months in prison. Dali has already been in custody for over five months, according to officials. A sentencing date has not been set. Ben Mitchell is a digital content producer from Vermont who has covered both local and international news since 2021. He joined PIX11 in 2024. See more of his work here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
