is there a reason to believe that the company behind the ship should be held responsible westmark twice we are not going to wait for that. >> what did you make of the decision? >> i don't want to get into that. i need time to talk about that. thank you. thank you. quick shortly after president biden spoke about the bridge collapsed in baltimore, national transportation safety board chair jennifer homendy briefed the press on the investigation of a cargo ship striking a pilot that caused the bridge to collapse. she also addressed varying reports that the crash was due to a power failure from the ship. at the time of her remarks, the

coast guard was assisting with the search and rescue mission. quick thank you for joining us. i am the chair of the national transportation safety board. normally our investigator in charge, his name is marcel muse. that is our investigator in charge for this investigation. it is very early. i have asked that he remain at the command doing so that i canu on what we're doing so far. also with me is one of our newest board members, mr. alvin brown and this is his drowning

launch, so the ntsb arrived on scene at 6:00 a.m. to investigate an accident involving a singapore registered vessel with the name dolly. doli. which made contact with t francis scott key bridge in baltimore, maryland at around 1:30 a.m. this morning. the vessel is 985 feet long, it's a 95,000 gross ton container ship i have seen information about crew members on board. we still need to verify the numbers of crews on board and their status under our memorandum of understanding with the coast guard, the ntsb is leading this the coast guard will support this investigation. our memorandum of understanding, for

example, provides for when an accident involves another mode of transportation and othe factors. the ntsb will lead th now, i want to thank the u.s. coast guard. we have a very coo relationship with the u.s. coas i particularly want to thank deputy commandant for operations, vice admiral. i want to thank at brawler galbraith, commander of the fifth district and captain o'connell, who is the sector co before i go on, on behalf of th ntsb, i want to extend our deepest sympathies to those who have been affected by this significant event. the ntsb, as

i mentioned, does many significant transportation events, not just aviation. we do accidents and incidents in marine safety as well, and of course with bridges and other highway infrastructure. for this, there were many that were affected by this collapse, and our deepest sympathies go out to the families, loved ones, and others who have been affected. i'm going to get questions on fatalities and injuries, which am not going to answer. that is not something that the ntsb ans i will refer you to local authorities on all of that info what i can tell you is a search-and-rescue is still unde so we are very hopeful and again, our thoughts are with th families and their loved ones. again, we got here at 6:00 a.m. and we are standing back to

allow the coast guard and search-and-rescue to continue their search-and-rescue operati while we gather information fro the command post. there is a lot of information that we can begin to collect.on scene, including n and me. the team of experts inc experts in nautical operations. and what they are going to look at and begin to collect is information on vessel operations, safety history, safety record, they will look a the owner, they will look at th operator, and they will look at the operations today. they will also look at company policy, any sort of safety management systems or safety management program will be looked at by th and our human performance team

as well. we have a human perfor expert here. we have an engineering team. we have survival factors, and then we have a team here that is getting the recorders. we also have a highway safety team, our team out of the office of highway safety including structural engineers, bridge experts who will be here and are continuing to come in. we have a few here and one or two others are coming in in the next few hours. we also had our family assistance team on-site. and our family assistance team works with those that were affected by a particular event. families, friends, and other loved ones. and they will help them get in touch with the resources they need while also providing them with the information that they

need as we move forward with ou this is a team effort. there are a lot of entities right now in the command post, all focused o search-and-rescue, as they should be. but i do want to, in thank the coast guard, the maryland transportation authority police, the federal bureau of investigations, the baltimore fire and rescue, and the maryland state police. i also know there are others on scene i am sure i have missed, for example, the army corps of engineers is here, a great deal of expertise, and all focused o what is very important, which i people first. i have been in contact with my counterpart in director chong is the transport safety board.

the ntsb maintains relationships with our counterparts in other countries often, and stay in close communication. so the director and i have been in communication many times before on safety. he is the ntsb maintains relationshi with our counterparts in other countries often, and stay in close communication. so the director and i have been in communication many times before on safety. he is sending some p here tomorrow. also, personnel will be arriving from the maritime and port authority of singapore, who has the focus of being the regulator in singapor now, it's a -- there's not a lo of information i can share at this time. ? and i know there's a lot of information that seems to be ci the ntsb does not speculate. we provide facts. so there is not a lot we can share right now because the focus has been on the people. however, if you know me, i like to provide information as we can when we

are able to verify those facts and be open about that. transparency is one of our mandates, one of our core value so please, monitor ntsb.gov and x, where we will post when we are having another media briefi we do have an organizational meeting tonight at 5:00, which mentioned, to determine where w want to go next on the investig but there's a lot of informatio we need to gather between now and then in the days and weeks that follow. with that, i am going to take questions. i will call on you. please state your name and your affiliation. we will start with tom and then go over here. reporter: thank you. tom costello wnbc news.

-- with nbc news. you spoke of one of the teams within this ntsb structure looking for specifically the recorders on board the ship. can you speak to what type of recorders may be on board the ship, and what do you hope th information might be provided? chair homendy: at this time, i will have more information abou the recorders tomorrow. we chose not to board the vessel today to allow some time for the search and recovery, which we did not want to interfere with. that is the first and foremost. we do have some information, but we need to verify that information first before we provide that information, before i verify it we will have that information tomorrow, or maybe later tonigh if you want to check with me. reporter: abc news. how long will the search go on for today chair homendy: it is a question on how long the search will go on today. ntsb is not in charge of the search-and-rescue operat that is the u.s. coast guard. so i would refer you to the coast

guard for that information. reporter: cbs news. [inaudible] can you give us a rough timeline and curious what can you tell us about the timeline? how much time elapsed between the pilot notifying authorities? chair homendy: there is a question on the timeline. again, i know this is all information you are looking for. the information we get, which often happens in a large event where there are a lot of entities, is there is conflicting information. the ntsb focuses on the facts. so we will figure that out and be able to provide that information in the coming days. today is far too early for that. reporter: nothing on the timeline? chair homendy: nothing on the timeline so far. reporter: how

critical will th recorder be to investigating? chair homendy: how critical wil voyage data recorder be to investigating this? it will be critical. it is a critical piece of our investigation, which is why we have a recorder team here. reporter: have you been able to figure out why the ship did not immediately drop anchor when th power went out and they were on chair homendy: the question is on dropping anchor, and whether they did or did not and the timing on that. again, that will be part of our investigation and part of our timeline. i can provide you more information on that in the coming days, but no reporter: just wanted to check, do you have any information on the crew that was on board, their nationality? [indiscernible] chair homendy: the question is who was on board the vessel, and nationalities. again, i've heard conflicting information on that as well. we will have to get back to you on

reporter: do you have any reaso to believe there were major deficiencies with the vessel? what are you learning from previous inspections? chair homendy: the question is, were there any deficiencies on the vessel before it sailed, and will we be looking at any safet that is part of our investigation where we look in-depth at safety information. anything that may have occurred prior to this. any sort of safety history with respect to the vessel. any sort of maintenance that was done to a vessel or a component on the sh we will look at all of that but it is much too early for all of reporter: [indiscernible] chair homendy: the question is who are we working with from the private sector folks. certainly we are working with the owner

operators, which are two different entities for this ves we will be working with the pilot association. and we will have a number of federal, state, and local partners as party to we are going to designate those tonight at the organizational briefing and i will have more information on that tomorrow. reporter: given obviously the search-and-rescue effort is the main focus right now handled are -- by the u.s. coast guard, but key bridge being such a major thoroughfare for the city and our commerce, the entire country, not to mention the waterway being shut down, is there any sense of urgency to get this cleaned up faster, or what exactly is the priority be chair homendy: there is a question about what is the priority beyond the search-and- we don't -- certainly investigations are a priority. certainly environmental considerations are a priority.

and so is traffic and getting cargo vessels in and out of the port of baltimore. it is not the ntsb's priority. we have a number of organizations including the department of tra maryland department of transportation, the governor that's doing a lot of work on that. but right now it is about it is about families. and addressing the needs of those that were impacted, that is the i don't think anybody in that room right now at the command post is thinking about what are the next steps to get things cleaned up. they are working to figure out who was impacted, if anyone was impacted, and how do we address that. because that is and should be the priority alwa reporter: you talked a little bit about the families an you talked a little bit about

the rescue effort that's taking have we confirmed that there were any more than just the six construction workers that were on the bridge itself? were there any more possible other cars, other drivers on the bridge? chair homendy: the question is on, have we been able to confir information on the number of cars on the bridge, the number of workers on the bridge. there are a lot of numbers that we heard back and forth. -- we've heard back and forth. we need to verify that. the search team is doing that now. that is not through the ntsb, that is through the local authorities, maryland state police, and the maryland transportation authority, as well as their federal partners through the coast guard, to be able to verify that information reporter: so as of right now there could be other victims than just the six you are searching for? chair homendy: there are -- nobody is going by a number. they are just looking an

they're searching. that is what is important. reporter: [indisc chair homendy: the structure of the bridge, there are some questions about the structure o the bridge, the protectiv structure around the bridge or around piers to make sure there isn't a collapse. we are aware of what a structure should have part of our investigation will be how was this bridge construc it will look at the structure itself, should there be any sor of safety improvements. all of that will be part of our invest we go very broad in our investi reporter: [indiscernible] chair homendy: the question is, has the bridge ever been flagged for

any sort of safety deficiency o that is information that will take time to dig through. i will just point to our recent investigation of the fern hollo bridge collapse which took almost two years to get information on inspections, and what was and was not done after those inspections, and whethe there were records or not records maintained. that is specific to fern hollow bridge, but it's a very cumbersome process, it is a very meticulous process where they have to dig through a lot of information. so it will not be something that we will be able to verify while on reporter: [indiscernible] chair homendy: the question is on the reported power failure. we have heard the reports. we've been

made aware of those same reports about there being a power outag i have also seen statements, media releases from singapore a it's something that we take in, it's something that we have to verify through our investigation, that that was what was part of the contributing cause here. so, too early to tell. reporter: [indis] chair homendy: can i confirm whether the construction worker on the bridge were employed by brauner builder's incorporated. that is the information we have. brauner builders incorporated. of course sometimes they use subcontractors, so we don't hav any information yet on subcontractors, but we do have information on the company itse reporter: [indiscernible] chair

homendy: is there any information on anybody that is unaccounted for, and whether they were able to verify with the company. that is something that the federal officials, the along with the coast guard will verify, not the ntsb. reporter:] that one of the victims was a state inspector. do you have any information about that? chair homendy: the question i about a state inspector. i don't have information on the inspector at this point. we are very focused on getting our investigative groups up and run again, let the search-and-rescu team do what they need to do to

focus on the people, and then w are gathering information from the owner of the ship, of the vessel, and then the operators -- operator and others. again, that was my last question. for further information, and i know it is not a lot of information for the first day, but we just got here. and really, the focus is on -- that is everyone's mai right now. the rest can wait. so please monitor ntsb.gov and our twitter feed for the next brief thank you. reporter: will secre buttigieg be coming down here? kamla doing so that i can brie >> speaking about the francis scott