6 people are feared dead after a freight train accident at the Baltimore Bridge
Baltimore Bridge — A major bridge in Baltimore collapsed like a house of cards early Tuesday morning after it was hit by a container ship, killing six people in the dark waters below and closing one of the the busiest ports in the country.
By Tuesday evening, the search and rescue effort for the six people who were working on the bridge when it collapsed had shifted to a recovery mission, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Shannon N. Gilreath said.
“We do not believe we will find any individuals alive,” he said.
They are presumed dead based on the water temperature and the time that has passed since the ship hit the bridge, causing it to collapse around 1:30 a.m.
Jeffrey Pritzker, executive vice president of Brawner Builders, previously said one person had survived. Their names were not published.
Earlier Tuesday, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore was holding out hope for the crew that disappeared after the Francis Scott Key Bridge disintegrated on impact.
It was a blow to relatives of the missing men, who waited for hours at the Royal Farms convenience store near the bridge entrance for news of their fate.
The tragic chain of events began early Tuesday morning when the cargo ship Dali notified authorities that it had lost power and issued an emergency warning before the 984-foot-long ship crashed into a bridge abutment at a speed of eight miles. miles/hour, which is about 9 miles/hour.
Moore declared a state of emergency while rescue teams using sonar detected at least five vehicles in the frigid 50-foot-deep water: three passenger cars, a cement truck and another vehicle. other convenience. Authorities do not believe anyone was in the car.
Investigators quickly concluded that this was an accident, not an act of terrorism.
The train was involved in another collision
Earlier, two people were rescued from the water, Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace said. He said one person was in good condition and had refused treatment. The other person was seriously injured and is being treated at a trauma center.
Moore said other drivers could have fallen into the water if it weren’t for “members of the public” who, upon hearing the danger announcement, blocked the bridge and prevented other vehicles from crossing.
“These people are heroes,” Moore said. “They saved lives. They saved many lives.”
Nearly eight years ago, the Dali was involved in another collision. In July 2016, it collided with a wharf in the Port of Antwerp-Bruges in Belgium, damaging the harbor.
The maritime commission investigated the accident, but details of the investigation remained unclear Tuesday.
Dali is operated and managed by a company called Synergy Group. In a statement, the company said two port pilots were in command at the time of Tuesday’s accident and all 22 crew members on board have been identified.
The bridge, which is about a mile and a half long and connects Interstate 695 over the Patapsco River southeast of Baltimore, was “fully compliant,” Moore said.
A 24-person team of National Transportation Safety Board investigators responded to the crash scene.
NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said her agency will lead the investigation. She said the ship’s data recorder could provide more information.
“But right now we are focusing on people, on families,” she said. “The rest can wait.”
President Joe Biden vowed to rebuild the bridge and send in federal money.
“This is going to take some time,” Biden warned. “The people of Baltimore can count on us to be with them, every step of the way, until the port is reopened and the bridge is rebuilt.”
Speaking in Baltimore, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg echoed the president’s promise.
“This is no ordinary bridge,” he said. “This is one of the cathedrals of America’s infrastructure.”
But Buttigieg warned that replacing the bridge and reopening the port would take time, be expensive and could affect the supply chain.
The Port of Baltimore, the 11th largest in the US, is the busiest port for importing and exporting cars, handling more than 750,000 vehicles in 2023 alone, according to data from the Maryland Port Authority.
The Dali is chartered by Danish shipping giant Maersk, which said it will have no choice but to send its ships to other nearby ports when the Port of Baltimore closes.
Writer David Simon, a champion of Baltimore who set the crime drama “The Wire” on the streets of the city he once covered as a reporter, warned online that the people who will suffer the most are those whose livelihoods depend on the port.
“Think first of the people on the bridge,” Simon posted on X. “But the mind wanders to a stuffy port city. All the people leaning on the train come in and out.”
Searching for about 20 people who fell into the river when a freight train collapsed on a bridge
Rescuers in Baltimore city, Maryland (USA) are urgently searching for survivors after a cargo ship collapsed a bridge, causing about 20 people and many vehicles to fall into the river.
According to the latest information, two people were brought out of the water, one of whom was seriously injured.
The incident occurred at around 1:30 a.m. on March 26 (US time, or 1:30 p.m. on the same day Vietnam time) when a section of the Francis Scott Key Bridge (also known as the Key Bridge) collapsed due to a container ship hitting it. After the collision, the above cargo ship caught fire and sank.
“This was a multi-casualty event,” said Baltimore Fire Department spokesman Kevin Cartwright. The rescue work involves many authorities and is expected to last for many days.”
Maryland Governor Wes Moore declared a state of emergency.
LSEG’s ship tracking data shows that the Dali container ship flying the Singapore flag was present on the Key Bridge where the accident occurred.
This ship is owned by Grace Ocean Pte Ltd and operates under the management of Synergy Marine Group.
Synergy Marine Corp said the Dali collided with one of the bridge piers and all crew members were safe.
Previously, on website move in another direction.
At nearly 3km long, Key Bridge is the longest bridge in the Baltimore metropolitan area. The bridge was inaugurated in March 1977. Each year, about 11.5 million vehicles cross the bridge./.
