Addis Ababa, March 27, 2024 (FBC) – Six workers are missing and presumed dead from a bridge that collapsed in Baltimore Harbor early on Tuesday after a massive cargo ship crippled by power loss rammed into the structure, forcing the closure of one of the busiest ports on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.
With dive teams facing increasingly treacherous conditions in the darkened, wreckage-strewn waters, active search-and-rescue operations were suspended about 18 hours after the accident, U.S. Coast Guard and Maryland State Police officials said.
Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath said there was no hope of finding the missing workers alive due to the frigid water and the length of time elapsed since the accident.
State Police Colonel Roland Butler said authorities hoped to return divers to the water after sunrise on Wednesday in an effort to recover the workers’ remains.
The Singapore-flagged container vessel named Dali, heading out of Baltimore Harbor bound for Sri Lanka, plowed into a support pylon of the Francis Scott Key Bridge over the mouth of the Patapsco River at about 1:30 a.m.
A trestled section of the 1.6-mile (2.57 kilometers) span almost immediately crumpled into the icy water, sending vehicles and people into the river.
Rescuers pulled two survivors to safety, one of whom was hospitalized. They and the six missing were part of a work crew filling potholes on the road surface of the bridge, officials said earlier.
The ship reported a power failure before impact, which enabled officials to stop traffic on the bridge before the collapse.
“By being able to stop cars from coming over the bridge, these people are heroes. They saved lives last night,” Maryland Governor Wes Moore said at a midday news briefing. The bridge was up to code with no known structural issues, Moore said.
There was no evidence of foul play, officials said.
Officers from Singapore’s Transport Safety Investigation Bureau and Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) have started traveling to Baltimore in the United States to support the investigation into the vessel-bridge collision incident, according to the latest statement from the MPA.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the closure of one of the country’s busiest shipping lanes until further notice would have a “major and protracted impact to supply chains.”
The Port of Baltimore handles more automobile cargo than any other U.S. port – more than 750,000 vehicles in 2022, according to port data.
U.S. President Joe Biden said the U.S. Coast Guard responded quickly to the mayday call and commended the fast action of Maryland transportation officials who closed the bridge before it was struck.
Biden promised to visit Baltimore, 40 miles away, as soon as possible and said he wanted the federal government to pay to rebuild the bridge.
The bridge, named after the author of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” opened in 1977. It also serves as the main thoroughfare for motorists between New York and Washington seeking to avoid downtown Baltimore.
The same ship was involved in an incident in the port of Antwerp, Belgium, in 2016, hitting a quay as it tried to exit the North Sea container terminal.
An inspection in 2023 carried out in San Antonio, Chile, found “propulsion and auxiliary machinery” deficiencies, according to data on the public Equasis website, which provides information on ships.
Tuesday’s disaster may be the worst U.S. bridge collapse since 2007, when the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing 13 people. CGTN