Follow our live coverage of Collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.
An enormous container ship struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. Most of the bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River.
Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland declared a state of emergency shortly after the ship struck a bridge that is an element of Interstate 695 and a key East Coast transportation link to one among the nation’s largest ports. Ship traffic has since been suspended.
Authorities suspended search and rescue operations on Tuesday evening and 6 missing construction employees were presumed dead.
Governor Moore said there was no credible evidence of a terrorist attack. He stated that the priority is the search operation conducted by the Coast Guard, aimed toward finding individuals who can have been on the bridge.
Here’s what we know.
Why did the ship hit the bridge?
No one knows, and the National Transportation Safety Board said it was investigating.
The 1,000-foot-long cargo ship, called the Dali, was leaving the port of Baltimore when it lost power and issued a mayday just before hitting a critical bridge component called the pylon, or pier. Footage published by Broadcastify shows that a radio message from rescuers suggested that the crew was having trouble steering the ship. Most of the ship’s lights went out suddenly, just over two minutes before the ship hit the bridge.
A joint statement from the ship’s owner and manager shows that the ship was being guided by Baltimore port pilots at the time of the disaster, as is generally the case when ships enter ports or canals.
Governor Moore said the bridge is fully compliant and that the collapse doesn’t look like the results of structural problems.
What is the death toll?
Coast Guard and state police officials said the construction employees had been missing for too long to have any hope of rescue and cited the water temperature as cold. Col. Roland L. Butler of the Maryland State Police said divers would attempt to return to the water to recuperate the bodies.
Two other employees were rescued from the water, including one who was hospitalized and released.
At least one among the missing men was an immigrant from El Salvador, in line with We are Casa, a nonprofit that gives services to Baltimore’s immigrant community.
Miguel Luna, 40, is married and has three children, said Gustavo Torres, the organization’s executive director. He discovered that Mr. Luna was one among the missing people in Mr. Luna’s family. He said Mr. Luna has lived in Maryland for at the least 19 years.
What about the ship and crew?
According to maritime data platform MarineTraffic, Dali is registered in Singapore and was headed to Colombo, Sri Lanka. It was carrying 4,700 containers, in line with Synergy Marine, its manager and operator. However, in line with the company, the ship’s capability can handle about twice that number of individuals.
Last yr’s inspection of the ship in a port in Chile revealed a fault with its gauges and thermometers.
The Dali ship has undergone 27 inspections since 2015, in line with a database maintained by Equasis, a public website that promotes maritime safety. The only other defect, a damaged hull “impairing seaworthiness”, was present in 2016 in the port of Antwerp. The the ship hit a stone wall in port this yr. A spokesman for Dali’s owner, Grace Ocean Investment, declined to comment on the shortcomings revealed last yr.
Authorities said that despite the Mayday call, the maintenance crew and their vehicles remained on the bridge. It is unclear why they did this.
At the same time, 24 members of the ship’s crew, including two Baltimore port pilots who were steering the ship at the time of the disaster, were accounted for and, in line with the owners, didn’t suffer any injuries. There were 22 Indian nationals on board.
What about the bridge?
Construction of the bridge began in 1972 and was accomplished in March 1977. The bridge spans 2.6 miles over the Patapsco River, but the overall crossing structure, including connecting approaches, is almost 18 miles long.
According to a Maryland State Government Report.
Some engineers say the collapse might have been avoided if the bridge’s supporting columns had been higher protected with locking devices called bumpers. These will be anything from easy pyramids of rocks arranged around pillars to large concrete rings lined with wood slats. But the security would must give you the option to soak up an impact from such an enormous container ship.
President Biden said he expected the federal government to cover the “entire cost” of rebuilding the bridge and called on Congress to support efforts to fund repairs.
Submissions were submitted by Peter Eavis, Miriam Jordan, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Jacey Fortin, James Glanz, Annie Correal, Michael D. Shear, Luke Broadwater, Jenny Gross, Patricia Mazzei and Jin Yu Young.
