Baltimore’s Key Bridge collapse updates: Six missing after cargo ship crash

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Read our coverage here of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse. And see photos from the disaster site here.

This live page will soon be closing. Here’s a look at what happened today:

• The Singapore-flagged Dali cargo ship was setting off from the Port of Baltimore to Colombo, Sri Lanka, when it apparently lost power and struck a pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
• The collision caused the bridge to collapse into the Patapsco River, with a last-minute mayday call from the crew giving police just enough time to stop traffic.
• Emergency responders rescued two people from the water. Another six were unaccounted for. They are all believed to be construction workers who were working at the bridge at the time of the collapse.
• The federal transportation safety agency has said it will launch an investigation into the safety record of the cargo ship as well as the construction and design of the bridge.
• US President Joe Biden has said he will seek funds from Congress to rebuild the bridge.
• The collapse has caused all operations at the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest maritime terminals in the US, to be suspended.

The head of the supply chain management company Flexport has warned that Americans should expect shortages of goods in the wake of the bridge collapse.

“It’s not just the port of Baltimore that’s going to be impacted,” said Ryan Petersen, the company’s CEO.

Petersen explained that the port’s closure in Baltimore, Maryland, was just one factor contributing to shipping delays.

He pointed to ongoing attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea, a waterway that connects Asia with Europe and the US. Petersen explained that those attacks have forced traffic away from the Suez Canal and around the tip of Africa, a longer route.

At the same time, there has been increased congestion in the Panama Canal.

The stresses create a “vicious feedback loop”, he said, adding his team was working to reroute about 800 shipping containers currently making their way to Baltimore’s port.

A hospital official has said one person involved in the Baltimore bridge collapse is still being treated while another has been discharged.

Dr David Efron, the chief of trauma at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center, spoke to the Associated Press but did not release the condition of the person who remained hospitalised.

The identity of the two patients was not immediately released.

An employee involved with construction efforts on the Francis Scott Key bridge told the AP news agency he had been informed that his missing co-workers were on a break at the time of the collapse.

Some, he explained, were sitting in their trucks when the bridge buckled after being struck by a container ship.

Jesus Campos, an employee of Brawner Builders, said he learned about the disaster from a co-worker and immediately worried about colleagues he knew were working on the bridge.

“When he told me that, they came to mind and I was praying to God that nothing had happened to them,” Campos said in Spanish.

“It is so hard for me to describe. I know that a month ago, I was there and I know what it feels like when the trailers pass. Imagine knowing that it is falling. It is so hard. One would not know what to do.”

Jeffrey Pritzker, the company’s executive vice president, has said six workers are presumed dead. Campos said the workers ranged in age from about 30 to 45. All had families.

Responding to questions about whether Americans should be concerned about the safety of other bridges, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg explained that the situation at the Francis Scott Key bridge appeared to be unique.

“I do not know of a bridge that has been constructed to withstand a direct impact from a vessel of this size,” he said during a news conference.

“What I will say is: Any time anything happens to any bridge, we as a country take that and learn from that.”

Maryland-based politicians have streamed onto social media to offer their condolences after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge — and to assure residents that they are rallying resources to address the disaster.

Senator Chris Van Hollen wrote on the social media platform X earlier today that the bridge’s fall was “awful, horrific news”. He added that the government was responding with “all the federal, state and local resources at our disposal”.

“All of Baltimore and all of Maryland are coming together to face this tragedy,” he said.

Representative Kweisi Mfume, meanwhile, explained that he joined President Joe Biden on a phone call on Tuesday to address the disaster response.

“The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse is an unthinkable horror. We are all trying to respond accordingly,” he wrote on X.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse is an unthinkable horror. We are all trying to respond accordingly. I've spoken directly with Secretary Buttigieg and the White House. They are responding with all of the assets at their disposal. Our prayers right now are for the missing…

— Kweisi Mfume (@RepKweisiMfume) March 26, 2024

In a news conference, Jennifer Homendy, the chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), said a 24-member team will launch an investigation once the search-and-rescue operation is completed.

That investigation will probe the safety history of the ship, as well as the structural integrity and construction of the bridge.

Homendy added that there was no further information available to be released.

Radio traffic — obtained from the Broadcastify.com archive — shows officers attempted to alert a construction crew moments before the bridge collapsed.

In first responder radio traffic from the Maryland Transportation Authority, a dispatcher put out a call that the ship had lost power. Officers were able to stop traffic on the bridge in less than two minutes.

Then one officer who had stopped traffic radioed that he was going to drive onto the bridge to notify the construction crew once a second officer arrived. But seconds later, a frantic officer radioed that the bridge had collapsed.

Six members of the construction crew remain unaccounted for. They were on the bridge filling potholes.

The county executive for Prince George’s County, Angela Alsobrooks, has said that underwater drones show “an abundance of twisted metal and debris” from the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.

The conditions make it unsafe for police divers to enter so far, she said.

“Our team continues to standby,” she posted on X.

An update from our Police Dive Team in Baltimore— underwater drones have shown an abundance of twisted metal and debris from the Francis Scott Key Bridge, making it unsafe for divers to enter so far. Our team continues to standby. Here are some images sent to me from the field. pic.twitter.com/r4GWkmiXS8

— County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (@CEXAlsobrooks) March 26, 2024

Coal producer Consol Energy has said that vessel access in and out of its marine terminal has been delayed following the bridge collapse.

There is no definitive timeline for the resumption of normal operations or vessel access, Consol Energy added.

The company operates the Baltimore Marine terminal, one of the two coal export terminals on the US’s Eastern Seaboard. It is also the only one served by two rail lines: Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation.

The terminal has processed more than 10 million tonnes of coal per year on average since 2010 and has an annual through-put capacity of 15 million tonnes of coal.

Inspectors in June found a problem with the machinery of the ship that caused a major bridge to collapse in Baltimore.

The Dali, owned by Grace Ocean Pte Ltd, has been inspected at least 27 times at ports around the world since it was built in 2015.

An inspection at a port in Chile in June identified a problem with the ship’s “propulsion and auxiliary machinery”, according to the shipping information system Equasis. But the website’s online records did not elaborate.

Equasis did also note that a more recent examination of the ship did not identify any deficiencies.

The US Coast Guard in New York conducted that examination on September 13. According to the Equasis data, the “standard examination” did not identify any deficiencies.

On Tuesday, Americans awoke to dramatic images of the pre-dawn collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, after a cargo vessel struck one of its supports.

Now, new photos are emerging of the wreckage. See more from our photo gallery here.

At least six people remain missing after the bridge collapse in Baltimore. While no deaths were immediately confirmed, the incident has evoked comparisons to some of the worst bridge disasters in recent years.

In 2022, for instance, at least 137 people, including nearly 50 children, were killed after a 150-year-old suspension bridge collapsed in Morbi, part of the Indian state of Gujarat.

That bridge had recently reopened following renovations. Hundreds of people were gathered on the bridge to celebrate the last day of the holiday of Diwali.

In May 2021, at least 26 were killed in Mexico City when an elevated section of track in the city’s metro system collapsed, bringing a passenger train crashing down. An investigation later concluded that the accident was caused both by structural flaws and a lack of maintenance.

In 2018, the Morandi bridge collapsed in the Italian city of Genoa, killing at least 43 people. The bridge buckled amid in torrential rain, sending dozens of vehicles and their passengers tumbling into the abyss. An investigation later found a lack of “even minimal maintenance work” to reinforce the bridge over its 51-year history.

In a statement, the Islamic Maryland Action Network (IMAN) said it was prepared to stand “shoulder to shoulder” with city of Baltimore, as it recovered from Tuesday’s bridge collapse.

“In these trials, as we face profound sorrow and uncertainty, our prayers, thoughts, and and hearts are with the victims, their families and the Baltimore community,” the group wrote.

#Maryland Muslim Community Statement on Key Bridge Tragedy pic.twitter.com/0zju2UrHUY

— Ibrahim Hooper (@ibrahimhooper) March 26, 2024

Addressing the bridge collapse from the White House, Joe Biden said he plans to visit Baltimore “as quickly as I can”.

The US president is scheduled to visit Raleigh, North Carolina today for a joint campaign stop with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Biden also used his White House remarks to address how the bridge would be rebuilt.

“It’s my intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of infrastructure in that bridge,” he said. “I expect Congress to support my effort.”

The bridge is a major transport route, with 30,000 cars crossing it a day, he added.

Meanwhile, the Port of Baltimore, which has been temporarily closed in the wake of the incident, is the largest port for the import and export of automobiles and light trucks, Biden said.

About 185,000 vehicles pass through the port every year.

Addressing the bridge collision and collapse, Biden has said there is “no other indication, no other reason to believe” that the incident was intentional.

“Everything so far indicates that this was a terrible accident,” Biden said from the White House, adding that the recovery effort was ongoing.

He reiterated that eight people were initially unaccounted for, with two pulled from the water alive. Six more remain missing.

Maryland’s transportation official earlier said those missing were believed to be construction workers.

Rescue efforts are continuing. They involve multiple agencies — including the Coast Guard, FBI — specialist divers in the water, and helicopters up in the air. Now, it’s understood that those unaccounted for were part of the construction team that was fixing potholes on the bridge when it collapsed.

Officials say that a mayday signal was received from the vessel before it struck the bridge. This allowed officials to close off the bridge before it went down. One official has said that that certainly led to a reduction in the loss of life.

The low tide is approximately two hours away. That would be the optimal time in terms of search and rescue. After that, you start having the tide coming in again, which will once again make conditions much more difficult.

Grace Ocean Pte Ltd released a statement hours after its cargo ship, called the Dali, collided with one of the pillars of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

“All crew members, including the two pilots, have been accounted for, and there are no reports of any injuries. There has also been no pollution,” the company said.

It added the exact cause of the incident was yet to be determined.