Part of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, in the US city of Baltimore, Maryland, collapsed on Tuesday, March 26 after a ship collided with a column of the structure. Several vehicles fell into the Patapsco River, so rescue forces are searching for several missing people. Shipping to and from the Port of Baltimore has been suspended until further notice.
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A container ship crashed into a four-lane bridge in the US port of Baltimore on Tuesday, March 26, causing it to collapse and sending cars and people falling into the river.
Rescuers have pulled out two survivors, one of them in “very serious condition,” and are searching for more people in the Patapsco River after huge spans of the 2.57 km long Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed into Water.
The ship “lost propulsion” when leaving port, and The crew on board notified Maryland authorities that they had lost control of the vessel'ABC News' reported, citing an unclassified report from US intelligence services.
Baltimore authorities said At least seven vehicles plunged into the water, but they could not give an exact number.
Kevin Cartwright, the spokesman for the Baltimore City Fire Department, told Reuters that Up to 20 people could be in the river along with “numerous vehiclesand possibly a tractor-trailer or a vehicle as large as a tractor fell into the river.”
“This is a mass casualty, multi-agency event,” Cartwright said. “This operation is going to last for many days,” he added.
A live video posted on YouTube showed the ship crashing into the bridge in the dark. Vehicle headlights could be seen on the bridge as it crashed into the water and the ship caught fire.
They declare a state of emergency and suspend maritime traffic
Tuesday's disaster may be the worst bridge collapse in the United States since 2007, when the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing 13 people.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore declared a state of emergency to quickly deploy federal resources to address the emergency. The FBI in Baltimore said in X that his staff was “on site.”
At a news conference, Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said that There were no signs of terrorism.
Traffic was suspended at the Port of Baltimore until further notice, Maryland transportation officials said. It is the busiest US port for shipping automobiles.s, with more than 750,000 vehicles in 2022, according to port data.
It was not immediately clear if any other vessels had been damaged or if operations to and from the port had been stopped, shipping and insurance sources said.
“We received several 911 calls around 1:30 a.m. reporting that a ship had collided with the Key Bridge in Baltimore, causing it to collapse,” Cartwright said.
Baltimore police said they had been notified of the incident at 1:35 a.m. local time.
The vessel was identified by LSEG ship tracking data as a Singapore-flagged container ship, the Dali. The registered owner of the vessel is Grace Ocean Pte Ltd and the manager is Synergy Marine Group, LSEG data shows.
Maersk: “We are horrified”
Synergy Marine Corp said the Dalí collided with one of the bridge pillars and that all members of its crew, including the two pilots, had been located and there were no reports of injuries.
The Dalí was chartered by the Maersk shipping company MAERSKb.CO at the time of the incident, the Danish company said in a statement.
“We are horrified by what happened in Baltimore, and our thoughts are with all those affected,” Maersk said.
As daylight approaches, it reveals the devastating aftermath of an early morning incident after a large cargo ship from Singapore crashed into the Scott Key Bridge. pic.twitter.com/2AA6a67GMn
—Eddie (@kameidotrading) March 26, 2024
The Port of Baltimore's private and public terminals handled 847,158 cars and light trucks in 2023, the most of any U.S. port. The port also handles agricultural and construction machinery, sugar, gypsum and coal, according to a Maryland government website.
The port manages imports and exports for major automobile manufacturerssuch as Nissan, Toyota, General Motors, Volvo, Jaguar Land Rover and the Volkswagen group, including luxury models from Audi, Lamborghini and Bentley.
More than 40 vessels remained in the port of Baltimore, including small freighters, tugboats and pleasure craft, according to data from MarineTraffic, a provider of ship tracking and maritime analysis. At least 30 other ships had listed their destination as Baltimore, the data showed.
The port did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.
The bridge, named after Francis Scott Key, author of the song Star Spangled Banner, opened in 1977.
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