It was midnight when a dispatcher's warning came over the radio
: a huge freighter had lost its steering ability and was heading toward the
Francis Scott Bridge in Baltimore.
It was just a 12-second radio dispatch.
Over the next 90 seconds,
police officers were able to stop
vehicle traffic on the Baltimore Bridge in both directions.
One said he was about to reach the bridge to alert a construction crew.
But
it was too late
.
Out of control and loaded with large containers,
the ship crashed into one of the bridge pillars.
"The whole bridge just collapsed
," said an agent, frantically. "
(...) Whoever, everyone... the whole bridge just collapsed."
The ship "Dalí" in the early hours of this Wednesday.
Photo: ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP
When the container ship Dalí slammed into the pillar around 1:30 a.m., it caused a long span of the bridge — a key piece of the region's transportation infrastructure — to collapse into the Patapsco River.
Six people who were working on patching the bridge fell into the water and
are presumed dead.
Divers were concentrating this Wednesday on finding their bodies.
Two others survived, but one was in serious condition at the time of being saved.
The loss of the bridge is expected
to disrupt traffic in the area
and the activity of a vital commercial port.
All the victims were identified: they were part of a construction team that was filling potholes in the road.
The search operation was scheduled to resume Wednesday morning.
Ship arrivals and departures from the Port of Baltimore were suspended indefinitely.
Photo: National Transportation Safety Board / Youtube / AFP
Among the missing
are Guatemalans, Hondurans and Mexicans
, diplomats from the three countries said.
The Honduran was identified as
Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval.
Ship traffic suspended
Federal and state officials said the crash appeared to be an incident.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating what happened, and vessel arrivals and departures from the Port of Baltimore
have been suspended indefinitely.
Capt. Michael Burns Jr., of the Maritime Center for Responsible Energy, noted that bringing a ship into port and out in restricted waters with limited room to maneuver
is “one of the most technically difficult and demanding things we do.”
A colossus at the mercy of wind and current
“There are really few things scarier than losing power in restricted waters,” he said.
And when a boat loses propulsion and control,
“it is truly at the mercy of the wind and current.”
Video showed the ship moving at a speed that Gov. Wes Moore said was about 8 knots — about 9 miles per hour (15 kilometers per hour) — toward the 1.6-mile (2.6 km) bridge. long.
When a boat loses propulsion and control, “it is truly at the mercy of the wind and current.”
Photo: National Transportation Safety Board / Youtube / AFP
At that time
there was still traffic crossing the bridge
, and some vehicles seemed to escape the tragedy
by just a few seconds
.
The impact caused the structure to break and fall into the water within seconds, and the remains could be seen protruding into the river later in the day.
Police noted that
there is no evidence that anyone else fell into the sea
besides the workers, although
the possibility was not ruled out.
An executive from the company that employed the missing people, Brawner Builders, explained that at the time of the collapse
they were working in the center of the bridge.
“This was completely unforeseen,” said Jeffrey Pritzker, the company's executive vice president.
“
We don't know what else to say
.”
“We take great pride in safety, and we have cones, signs, lights, barriers and markers.”
The workers were on a break
Jesús Campos, who has worked on the bridge for Brawner Builders and knows members of the crew, said they told him they were on a break and that
some were sitting in their trucks
when the bridge collapsed.
“I know I was there a month ago, and I know what it feels like when the trucks go by,” he said.
“Imagine knowing that it is falling.
"It's so hard that you wouldn't know what to do."
Father Ako Walker, a Catholic priest at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, said he spent time with relatives of the missing workers as they waited for news of their loved ones.
“You can see the pain in their faces,” he said.
Rescuers pulled two people from the water.
and one of them was treated at a hospital and released hours later.
The accident
occurred well before the busy morning rush hour on the bridge, which was used by
12 million vehicles
last year .
What other bridges have collapsed?
Between 1960 and 2015,
35 major bridge collapses occurred worldwide
due to ship or barge collisions, according to the World Water Transport Infrastructure Association.
Tuesday's incident is almost certain
to cause a logistical nightmare on the
US East Coast for months, or perhaps years, by shutting down shipping traffic at the port of Baltimore, a major distribution center.
State Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld said maritime traffic in and out of the port was suspended until further notice, although trucks will still be able to access the infrastructure.
“Losing this bridge will devastate the entire region, as well as the entire East Coast,” said Johnny State Senator Ray Salling.
Biden: the federal government will pay for reconstruction
For his part, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said it was too early to offer an estimate of how long it will take to clear the canal, which is about
15 meters (50 feet) deep
.
The president, Joe Biden, indicated that he plans to travel to Baltimore soon and that he expects the federal government to assume
the full cost of reconstruction.
Video
US President Joe Biden called the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge a "terrible accident"
Synergy Marine Group — the vessel's management company — said the impact occurred while it was under the control of one or more pilots, who are
local specialists
who help guide ships into and out of ports safely.
One of the crew was treated at a hospital for a minor injury, it added in a statement Wednesday.
The vessel is owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and
Danish shipping giant Maersk said it had chartered it.
The 300-meter (985-foot) long Dalí was en route
from Baltimore to Colombo
, Sri Lanka, and is sailing under the flag of Singapore, according to data from Marine Traffic.
The container ship
had passed port inspections in June
and
September 2023
.
In the first, a faulty fuel pressure gauge was rectified before setting sail, Singapore's port authority said in a statement on Wednesday.
___
Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report, including Sarah Brumfield, Rebecca Santana, Jake Offenhartz, Joshua Goodman, Ben Finley, Claudia Lauer, Brian Witte, Juliet Linderman, David McHugh, John Seewer, Michael Kunzelman, Mike Catalini and Sarah Rankin.