Without their intervention, the disaster could have been even more dizzying.
US President Joe Biden and the Governor of Maryland praised the responsiveness of the crew of the container ship that hit a major highway bridge in Baltimore on the night of Monday to Tuesday, who managed to launch a distress call upstream of collision.
They also praised local authorities who managed to prevent traffic on the structure before it collapsed.
If six people are presumed dead after the tragedy, these cold-blooded operations still made it possible to limit the death toll, the authorities insisted.
The crew noticed that the ship was experiencing a problem while en route to the Francis Scott Key highway bridge.
He managed to launch an SOS, while the cargo ship was moving at a “fast” speed of eight knots (nearly 15 km per hour), said the governor of the State of Maryland.
The alert allowed the authorities to cut off part of the road traffic.
“These people are heroes.
They saved lives last night,” insisted Wes Moore.
“Many vehicles were stopped before arriving on the bridge, which saved lives in a very, very heroic way,” he repeated, quoted by ABC News.
VIDEO.
Collapsed bridge in Baltimore: “A terrible accident”, reacts Joe Biden
The boat then crashed into one of the bridge's pillars, causing a large section of the structure to collapse in just a few seconds.
The toll of this “terrible accident” would have been worse if the ship, which suffered a “momentary loss of propulsion”, had not succeeded in launching a distress call, Joe Biden also underlined.
Traffic stopped in 90 seconds
Impressive video surveillance images showed the container ship MV Dali veering off course and hitting a pile of this bridge inaugurated in 1977, causing several arches to collapse in the port.
The 300 meter long cargo ship was heading from Baltimore to Colombo, Sri Lanka, and was flying the flag of Singapore.
According to The Telegraph, 22 people were on board, led by two local pilots who had been trained to cross Baltimore Bay.
All staff are of Indian nationality, according to The Times of India.
After noticing that all the lights were going out on the ship, they immediately contacted the Maryland Department of Transportation.
Power then briefly returned to the container ship, before going out again, and then the MV Dali collided with a pillar almost halfway across the bridge.
Also read: Collapsed bridge in Baltimore: the container ship had passed two inspections in 2023
ABC News has accessed a Coast Guard memo that confirms the crew reported electrical power issues, which triggered numerous alarms on the ship's bridge and led to a loss of propulsion.
He also quickly tried to slow down his course by dropping anchor, without succeeding in avoiding the catastrophe, from which he fortunately emerged unscathed.
According to the American channel, the alert of the personnel on board allowed the authorities to close access to the bridge to new vehicles before the collision.
Just after the SOS launched by the cargo ship, the police managed to stop traffic in both directions in just 90 seconds, AP News rewinds.
Footage from highway surveillance cameras even showed that there were "no vehicles transiting the bridge at the time of the incident," according to an internal US Department of Homeland Security briefing obtained by ABC News.
The victims would all be public works workers
The authorities therefore believe that the alleged victims are all public works workers who were part of a bridge maintenance team and working on the structure when it collapsed.
They were working on “fixing potholes,” “nothing to do with a structural problem,” Maryland Transportation Official Paul Wiedefeld said.
Two people were rescued, one in serious condition, while the other six are still missing and presumed dead.
The search was suspended Tuesday evening and divers should be mobilized again this Wednesday.
VIDEO.
Bridge collapsed by a cargo ship in Baltimore: “The pile had no chance of resisting”
Among the missing, several workers were from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, according to AP News.
Police have not yet found evidence that other individuals were also on the bridge at the time of the collapse, but have not ruled out the possibility.
According to the authorities, the terrorist trail has been ruled out at this stage and the most plausible scenario remains that of an accident.