A couple reports on Qingdao losing propulsion were posted on the weekend, missing some information that would be helpful.
The initial report was by writers at New York Post, (the same outlet that has the truly alarmist story about the Southwest airlines Boeing jet "engine ripping apart" as it was departing from Denver.)
......
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-804175-1.htmlThe following stories (that I could locate) on the weekend, about Qingdao, all quoted the New York Post story as the source.
Apparently, the source for the New York Post was a youtuber (or maybe a viewer of the youtuber) who sent them something.
Here's what strikes me as odd.
The Coast Guard confirmed the ship lost propulsion in the waterway, and made no mention of it posing a threat to the bridge.
A photo was included in the weekend stories, and I did not find any mention who took the photo. I believe one of the articles said the youtuber had presented the photo, but not sure on that.
Here's the thing: that photo appeared to be taken from quite a long distance with a telephoto lens, and gives absolutely no clues of indication how close nor how far the ship is from the bridge.
Reports said something like the ship was near the north area of the bridge, and, it was uncomfortably close to the bridge -- but never came close to revealing who was uncomfortable about it.
The supports for that suspension bridge are so much closer to shore than the Baltimore Key Bridge support that was broken, would a ship that size even make it to the support, or would it run aground before it got to it?
Reportedly, Coast Guard gave instructions the Qingdao had to have its propulsion problem checked, repaired and inspected, and the crew menbers each had to fill out incident reports and questionnaires, before being permitted to leave port and continue their journey.
Reportedly, that was all done with very little delay.
Call me skeptical, but the way it looks to me, if there had been a credible near-emergency, or something of serious official concern, it really seems like Coast Guard, NTSB, some waterway/harbor authorities, or some official personnel would have issued appropriate releases with some sort of indication of threat level.
(Now, maybe there are some official releases that answer a few questions and give a little detail beyond "near the north area", and "uncomfortably close", in which case I'm just a dorky skeptic.)