Rescuers suspended a search for survivors on Tuesday evening after a massive container ship struck Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in the early morning, causing it to collapse into the Patapsco River below, officials said.
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The disaster halted shipping in the Port of Baltimore and severed the city’s Beltway, which is also a major artery in the busy D.C.-to-New York corridor.
Officials said a crew of at least eight construction workers repairing potholes on the bridge at the time plunged into the water. Two were pulled from the water during the search, one in serious condition and the other uninjured.
End of carouselSix people who were unaccounted for after the bridge collapse are presumed dead, officials said. Efforts to find them were suspended around 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
The cargo ship, Dali, was captured in live-stream video moving toward the bridge at 1:24 a.m. Over the course of four minutes the lights on the ship went off and on, indicating that the power was going in and out.
Police radio traffic recorded at 1:27 a.m. captures responders rushing to evacuate and hold traffic on the bridge after an officer announced that a ship had lost control of its steering, according to records from Broadcastify, an open-source audio streaming service.
“Hold all traffic on the Key Bridge,” someone says. “There’s a ship approaching that just lost their steering.”
Others announce that they are en route to the bridge or already holding traffic. One asks whether there are workers on the bridge and whether anyone can contact the “foreman to see if we can get them off the bridge temporarily.”
About a minute after the message reporting a loss of steering, someone shouts, “The whole bridge just fell down!”
At 1:28 a.m. the Dali appears to hit the bridge. Less than 40 seconds later, the bridge collapses.
Dramatic video from the same live stream shows the full collapse.
The shock of the impact caused successive portions of the 1.6-mile span to bow and then fall into the Patapsco River, which is about 50 feet deep. Baltimore Fire Chief Jim Wallace said Tuesday that sonar showed multiple vehicles on the bed of the river.
President Biden pledged that the federal government would foot the bill to repair the bridge and reopen the Port of Baltimore, but officials said it was too soon to say how long that would take. Maryland transportation officials said drivers could expect major delays in the area. State officials said more than 30,000 vehicles a day use the bridge.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) said a preliminary investigation indicated that the wreck was an accident. The vessel had been traveling at a relatively rapid speed of about eight knots and lost power before the crash. The crew issued a distress signal, allowing officials to stop much of the traffic on the bridge.
The investigation into the cause was ongoing.
Joy Sung contributed to this report.
Edited by Tara McCarty, Elyse Samuels and Tim Meko. Copy edited by Dorine Bethea and Jennifer Morehead.
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