Live updates: Ship issued “mayday” before hitting Baltimore bridge, allowing workers to stop traffic
| 26/03/2024, 16:13 (há 2 dias) |  | ||
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BREAKING NEWS
Before Ship Hit Baltimore Bridge, Crew Lost Power and Warned of Possible CollisionRescuers are searching for six workers who were on the Francis Scott Key Bridge when it collapsed. The massive cargo ship issued a mayday call shortly before striking the bridge, giving officials time to stop traffic and try to evacuate it before it fell into the river.
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Coast Guard Ends Search for 6 Missing in Bridge Disaster
Officials said the construction workers had been missing too long to hope for rescue. They were on the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore when a cargo ship rammed into it after losing power.
Baltimore Bridge Collapses After Ship Hits It
Rescue teams suspended their search for six construction workers who were repairing potholes on the Francis Scott Key Bridge when it collapsed.
The preliminary investigation points to an accident. We haven’t seen any credible evidence of a terrorist attack. Literally by being able to stop cars from coming over the bridge, these people are heroes. They saved lives last night.
Follow today’s live coverage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore.
The Coast Guard ended its search late Tuesday for six construction workers who were on a bridge in Baltimore when it was rammed by a massive cargo ship and collapsed into the Patapsco River.
“At this point, we do not believe we are going to find any of these individuals still alive,” Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath said at a news conference just after dusk, citing the cold water temperatures and the length of time since the overnight collapse.
A few minutes before the cargo ship Dali crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge early Tuesday, the vessel had a “complete blackout” that knocked out power to the engine and navigation equipment, an industry official said.
The official, Clay Diamond, the executive director of the American Pilots Association, said Tuesday that he had been speaking regularly with the Association of Maryland Pilots and that the cause of the system failure was unclear. Though the ship’s backup generators had kicked on, restoring some power, the propulsion system remained offline.
BALTIMORE
Patapsco River
The ship left the Port
of Baltimore around
1 a.m. on Tuesday.
Francis Scott
Key Bridge
The ship hit the bridge at 1:28 a.m.
1 mile
Francis Scott
Key Bridge
Patapsco River
Where impact occurred
Direction of the ship
200 feet
Sources: Spire Global, Google Earth
By Agnes Chang and Weiyi Cai
Pentagon reporter
The cargo ship did not have a tugboat connected to it when it hit the bridge, according to Petty Officer Third Class Carmen Carver, a Coast Guard spokeswoman. The ship was connected to a tug earlier in its transit of the harbor, Carver said, but at some point it was released.
Pentagon reporter
One or more tugboats are typically used to help large vessels like the Dali get underway from their berths, or to moor them.
A harbor pilot and an apprentice were on the cargo ship as it navigated out of the Port of Baltimore, said Clay Diamond, the executive director of the American Pilots Association. He was told by the Maryland pilots' group that the vessel had a “complete blackout” a few minutes before the crash and never regained propulsion power.
Diamond said the pilot in command of the ship, who had more than 10 years of experience, ordered that the vessel be turned as much as possible to the left and that the port anchor be dropped in an unsuccessful effort to halt or slow the vessel’s drift toward the bridge.
Officials with the Coast Guard and Maryland State Police described harrowing conditions for rescuers in the water, including cold temperatures and dangerous debris.
Col. Roland L. Butler of the Maryland State Police said divers would return to the water at 6 a.m. Wednesday to try to recover the bodies of the six missing construction workers.
“At this point, we do not know where they are,” Butler said, “but we intend to give it our best effort to help these families find closure.”
A Coast Guard official said Tuesday night that officials were suspending the active search-and-rescue effort, with the six people missing after the bridge collapse presumed dead.
Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath said, “Based on the length of time we’ve gone in this search, the extensive search efforts that we’ve put into it, the water temperature, that at this point we do not believe we are going to find any of these individuals still alive.”
Ships belonging to the company whose container vessel crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on Tuesday have been cited in recent years for labor violations, which include underpaying ship crews and holding crew members onboard for months past their contracts, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
In 2021, the authority detained the Western Callao, another ship formerly owned by the company, the Singapore-based Grace Ocean Private Ltd., after it found that the management was in arrears paying 13 crew members and had kept them on the ship for more than 12 months, well beyond their nine-month contracts. In 2020, an inspection of the same ship in Australia found that eight sailors had been aboard it for more than 11 months.
Reporting from Baltimore
At sunset, more than 50 people lined up alongside Interstate 695, known as the Baltimore Beltway, to get a glimpse of the collapsed bridge and the rescue efforts underway. The massive ship — and its colorful shipping containers — sat beside the bridge's crumpled steel truss.
There are more heavily trafficked routes across the Baltimore Harbor than the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The Harbor Tunnel carries double the daily traffic of the Key Bridge and the Fort McHenry Tunnel much more than that.
But the Key, with its gently sloping arch and views that no tunnel could match, had become an emblem of Baltimore’s identity as a working port city.
Reporting from Baltimore
Tuesday evening’s rush hour was one of the first tests for Baltimore as commuters had to find an alternative to the collapsed bridge. Traffic was bumper-to-bumper inside the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel — the closest alternative to the bridge — but it did not slow to a crawl.
Reporting from Baltimore
At 6 p.m., it took about four minutes to pass through the 1.4-mile tunnel in the right lane heading north, with an average speed of roughly 21 miles per hour.
Reporting from Baltimore
A construction company employee who said he had labored alongside the six men missing after a Baltimore bridge collapse on Tuesday said that many of his co-workers were migrants working to support their relatives.
“We’re low-income families,” said Jesus Campos, who has worked at the construction company, Brawner Builders, for about eight months. “Our relatives are waiting for our help back in our home countries.”
The large container ship that collided with the Key Bridge in Baltimore, leading to its near-total collapse, appeared to strike a critical component, known as a pylon or pier, according to several engineers who have reviewed footage of the incident.
Without the pier, they said, it was impossible for other components of the bridge to assume the load and keep the bridge standing.
Reporting from Baltimore
Waning daylight and the rubble of the steel bridge are hampering search efforts for the six missing construction workers, officials said. “The water’s deep. Visibility’s low. It’s cold as I don’t know what,” said Kevin Cartwright, a spokesman for the Baltimore City Fire Department.
Reporting from Baltimore
He said that divers had entered the water, but that the wreckage made it unsafe for full search efforts. He said that rescuers would work until dark and then start again on Wednesday at dawn.
Several large automakers said on Tuesday that they were working to reroute shipments of cars because of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.
The Port of Baltimore plays an important role in the shipment of vehicles and handled more than 750,000 cars and trucks in 2023, according to the Maryland Port Administration. It ranks first in the United States for the volume of automobiles and light trucks it handles and for vessels that carry wheeled cargo, including farm and construction machinery, according to a statement by Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland last month.
Only hours after a colossal cargo ship struck a major bridge in Baltimore and caused it to collapse on Tuesday, Maryland’s governor and Baltimore’s mayor each declared a state of emergency.
The order unlocks additional powers that can be used to deal with natural disasters or man-made crises, often by creating or suspending laws and by redirecting public funds to the task at hand.
Underwater drones have shown “an abundance of twisted metal and debris” from the collapsed bridge, making it unsafe for divers to enter the wreckage, Angela Alsobrooks, the county executive for Prince George’s County in Maryland, said in a social media post.
As the shock of the Key Bridge collapse settled over Baltimore, the new traffic realities came not far behind. The Key, a four-lane-bridge that collapsed after being hit by a container ship, was not the most heavily trafficked route across the Baltimore Harbor, but without the crossing, about 34,000 cars and trucks now have to find alternative routes.
The collapse severs the southern stretch of Interstate 695, the portion of the Baltimore Beltway that runs through the heavily industrial areas around the port. On Tuesday, as I-695 closed around the bridge, the Maryland Transportation Authority was advising commuters to take one of the two tunnels that also span the harbor.
The F.B.I. in Baltimore said in a statement that there was "no specific and credible information to suggest any ties to terrorism at this time," and that the investigation was ongoing.
Satellite imagery shows the Francis Scott Key Bridge before and after it was struck by the Dali, a 948-foot-long cargo vessel.
Reporting from Baltimore
Jennifer Homendy, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said the agency will have to verify whether any loss of power on the ship contributed to the loss of control and the crash. “Too early,” she said.
Reporting from Baltimore
The N.T.S.B. will look at the construction of the bridge and whether its design may have contributed to its collapse after the crash, Homendy said.
Reporting from Baltimore
Homendy said the N.T.S.B. will examine the vessel’s safety and maintenance history but said there is no concrete information yet to release. It will also look to acquire recorders from the ship, she said.
Reporting from Baltimore
Jennifer Homendy, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said that the agency will lead the investigation into the cause of the bridge collapse. The agency is “standing back” to allow the search and rescue team to continue their efforts, but a team of 24 people will be gathering information from the command center until they can get into the scene directly, she said.
The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge early on Tuesday wiped out a roadway that tens of thousands of people used to travel to and from Baltimore every day, and it is difficult to say how long it will take to rebuild.
Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland called the reconstruction a “long-term build” at a news conference on Tuesday and said that the authorities were still focused on rescuing people.
White House reporter
President Biden said he would go to Baltimore “as quickly as I can,” but did not give exact timing.
White House reporter
President Biden said he expects that the federal government will pay for the “entire cost” of rebuilding the bridge, and called on Congress to support efforts to fund the repairs.
White House reporter
President Biden is speaking at the White House about the bridge collapse. He said the Coast Guard was leading the response effort, along with Baltimore and Maryland officials. He said that a recovery operation was still ongoing, and all indications were that the episode was a “terrible accident.”
White House reporter
“I know every minute in that circumstance feels like a lifetime,” Biden said to people who are still awaiting word on those missing after the collapse. The president said the search and rescue operation “is our top priority.”
And our prayers are with everyone involved in this terrible accident and all the families, especially those waiting for news of their loved one right now. I know every minute in that circumstance feels like a lifetime. You just don’t know. It’s just terrible. Here’s what’s happening now. The search-and-rescue operation is our top priority. Ship traffic in the Port of Baltimore has been suspended until further notice. And we’ll need to clear that channel before the ship traffic can resume. The Army Corps of Engineers is on the spot and is going to help lead this effort to clear the channel.
Covering logistics and infrastructure
The Port of Virginia this afternoon will receive a vessel that was previously bound for Baltimore, and others will soon follow, said the port’s chief executive, Stephen Edwards. Shipping lines that use Baltimore are diverting their vessels to other ports on the East Coast. “Between New York and Virginia, we have sufficient capacity to handle all this cargo,” Mr. Edwards said, referring to container ships.
Covering logistics and infrastructure
East Coast ports are expected to handle the traffic diverted from Baltimore, but trucking companies that transport goods out of the ports could struggle with the extra loads, according to logistics experts. “It’s going to cause a lot of chaos,” said Paul Brashier, vice president for drayage and intermodal at ITS Logistics.
Covering logistics and infrastructure
An inspection of the Dali last year at a port in Chile reported that the vessel had a deficiency related to “propulsion and auxiliary machinery.” The inspection, conducted on June 27 at the port of San Antonio, specified that the deficiency concerned gauges and thermometers.
Covering logistics and infrastructure
The Dali has had 27 inspections since 2015, according to a database maintained by Equasis. The only other deficiency, a damaged hull “impairing seaworthiness,” was found in 2016, at the port of Antwerp. The vessel hit a berth at the port that year. A spokesman for the Dali’s owner, Grace Ocean Investment, declined to comment on the deficiency reported last year.
Reporting from Baltimore
A mayday call enabled officials to stop traffic at both ends of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge and try to evacuate people from the span before it collapsed on Tuesday, according to several federal and Maryland officials.
The crew of the large container ship leaving the Port of Baltimore told Harbor Control that they had lost power and propulsion, the officials said.
Covering transportation
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is traveling to the site of the bridge collapse to receive updates on the investigation, his office confirmed.
Baltimore harbor pilots were directing the ship at the time of the crash, as is customary when vessels enter ports or canals, according to a joint statement from the ship’s owner and manager. None of the 24 crew members were injured, and no spills occurred, the statement said.
Covering transportation
Jennifer Homendy, the National Transportation Safety Board chairwoman, will brief the news media at noon in Dundalk, Md. The N.T.S.B. is investigating the collision.
Tuesday’s crash was at least the second in just over a month in which a container ship hit a major road bridge, raising questions about the safety standards of increasingly large ships and the ability of bridges around the world to withstand crashes.
On Feb. 22 in Guangzhou, a port in southern China, a much smaller vessel carrying stacks of containers hit the base of a two-lane bridge, causing vehicles to fall. Officials said that five people were killed.
The cargo ship reported losing propulsion before the crash, and there was a call to officials warning of a possible collision, according to two sources familiar with the incident.
Reporting from Washington
President Biden said on Tuesday that the federal government would “pay the entire cost of reconstructing” the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, adding that he hoped it would be rebuilt and reopened “as soon as humanly possible.”
Mr. Biden’s midday remarks from the White House came as he sought to demonstrate a robust federal government response to the bridge disaster, the second on a major interstate highway in the nation’s Northeast Corridor in 10 months.
Reporting from Baltimore
Gov. Wes Moore said that after a mayday call was made ahead of the collapse, workers stopped cars from continuing onto the bridge, a rapid response that he said had saved lives. “These people are heroes.”
Reporting from Baltimore
Gov. Wes Moore said reconstructing the bridge would be a “long-term build.”
Reporting from Baltimore
Wes Moore, Maryland’s governor, said the cargo ship’s crew told the authorities that they had lost power around the time that the ship struck the bridge.
Reporting from Baltimore
Eight people are believed to have fallen into the water during the collapse, said Paul Wiedefeld, Maryland’s transportation secretary. All eight were part of a construction crew filling potholes. Six of those people are still missing, he said.
“There are eight individuals. Six are being searched for right now. One is it — was taken to the hospital and one is not in the hospital that we’re speaking to.” “So six unaccounted for?” “Yes.” “And does that involve individuals that may have been in vehicles that went in the water?” “Or is that just the construction?” “We believe it’s the construction crew.”
Reporting from Baltimore
A reporter asked if officials thought anyone driving over the bridge had fallen into the water, aside from the construction workers. “We believe it’s the construction crew only,” the transportation secretary responded.
Reporting from Baltimore
Maryland's governor declined to comment on when port operations might return to normal, saying that the “exclusive focus is on saving lives, search and rescue.”
Reporting from Baltimore
In response to questions, Gov. Wes Moore said the bridge was fully up to code, and that this didn't appear to be the result of a structural issue.
Reporter: “But no structural issue with the bridge?” “No, in fact, the bridge was actually fully up to code. So, we have no further information about what happened in that time.”
Reporting from Baltimore
The Coast Guard is still “actively searching” the area with boats and helicopters, an official said.
Reporting from Baltimore
The construction crew on the bridge at the time of the collapse was fixing potholes, said Paul Wiedefeld, the secretary of Maryland’s Transportation Department. He said they were not working on anything related to the structure of the bridge.
Reporting from Baltimore
Wes Moore, the Maryland governor, said everyone’s hearts are breaking with the relatives of the victims. But, he added, the state and city will get through this tragedy: “We are Maryland tough, and we are Baltimore strong.”
Reporting from Baltimore
“We haven’t seen any credible evidence of a terrorist attack,” Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland said.
Reporting from Baltimore
Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland is speaking to reporters on the north end, with the remnants of the collapsed bridge visible behind him. “The preliminary evidence points to an accident,” he said.
We are still investigating what happened, but we are quickly gathering details. The preliminary investigation points to an accident. We haven’t seen any credible evidence of a terrorist attack.
Covering transportation
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was dispatching a team to Baltimore to investigate the bridge collapse. The agency said it would also hold a news briefing later today but did not yet set a time.
Reporting from Baltimore
Marquita Finch, 38, was among a dozen or so people who climbed an embankment along a highway in Dundalk, just south of Baltimore, to see the collapsed bridge. The job she was supposed to be at this morning was just on the other side of the bridge. “I’m probably going to lose that job,” she said. A lot of people would probably lose their jobs, she said.
Reporting from Baltimore
The authorities have blocked the public and the news media from getting close to either end of the collapsed bridge, but, standing on a small boardwalk a few miles away, I was able to get a glimpse of the cargo ship as it sat in the water beside the mangled remnants of the bridge. Several helicopters are circling overhead.
The dramatic video of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore will probably lodge itself in many people’s minds for a long time. But for engineers, seeing the footage might offer insight into why the span fell so quickly.
While it’s hard to know exactly what happened just from watching video, the impact of the major container ship on a key part of the bridge made the collapse of the bridge “pretty evident,” said Mark Richards, a structural engineer based in Britain who has worked in the field for 35 years. He was not involved in the construction of the Key Bridge.
Reporting from Baltimore
After reports that the Port of Baltimore may be shut down, officials announced that traffic in and out of the port had been suspended but said it was still processing trucks. The collapse of the bridge is likely to be a blow to the region.
Reporting from Baltimore
A steady flow of emergency vehicles from different agencies is passing by a media area as they make their way to the south end of the bridge. Just now, a fire department truck drove by with a small rescue boat in tow.
Reporting from Baltimore
Jagged edges of the broken cantilever sticking up from the water were visible across the Patapsco River in Wagners Point. As the sun rose, workers in the industrial area stopped to walk toward the water and look out at the wreckage.
Reporting from Baltimore
Paul Wiedefeld, Maryland’s transportation secretary, told CNN that it appears there were no injuries onboard the container ship that hit the bridge. He said an investigation into what happened would be conducted after the rescue effort, but he added that the ship seemed to have been off course before the impact and that “obviously it should be in the main channel, which is under that main span.”
Reporting from Baltimore
The scene from the media staging area shows the northern edge of the road where the bridge used to be. The road simply ends as it arcs upward, with only a small bit of the tangled metal bridge evident from where it collapsed into the water.
Reporting from Baltimore
The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a no-fly order in the area around the Key Bridge to allow rescue workers to continue to search for survivors from the air. Several helicopters have been flying over the bridge and its surroundings for several hours. The F.A.A. also warned people not to fly drones in the area.
About 40 ships, including 34 cargo vessels, currently have Baltimore listed as their destination, according to MarineTraffic, which tracks ships around the world. Georgios Hatzimanolis, who analyzes global shipping for MarineTraffic, said he expects some shipping delays. “We do expect there to be a ripple effect, but it’s a bit too early to say what the impact will be.”
Reporting from Baltimore
Maryland officials said that rescue workers were searching for road repair crews who had been working on the Key Bridge when it collapsed early Tuesday and were plunged into the bay’s cold waters.
Paul J. Wiedefeld, Maryland’s transportation secretary, called the episode a “catastrophic collapse,” saying that “we know there were individuals on the bridge at the time” it was struck by a container ship around 1:30 a.m.
Reporting from Baltimore
The White House just issued the following statement: “The President has been briefed on the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore and the ongoing search and rescue efforts. He will continue to receive updates from his team throughout the day.”
Monthly cargo handled by the Port of Baltimore
The Baltimore bridge disaster on Tuesday upended operations at one of the nation’s busiest ports, with disruptions likely to be felt for weeks by companies shipping goods in and out of the country — and possibly by consumers as well.
The upheaval will be especially notable for auto makers and coal producers for whom Baltimore has become one of the most vital shipping destinations in the United States.
Chief James Wallace of the Baltimore Fire Department said crew members were still aboard the Dali, the vessel that struck the bridge. “There has been communication between the ship crew and the Coast Guard,” he said.
An aerial view of the bridge shows the extent of the damage. Portions of the collapsed section are visible in the water, with a small span lying across the Dali container ship.
Reporting from Baltimore
At the south side of the bridge, the Maryland Transportation Authority police have closed down access roads all throughout the Hawkins Point neighborhood. An officer said contractors were being let through to start assessing damage.
Reporting from Baltimore
The Maryland transportation secretary said there was an unknown number of workers doing repairs on the bridge’s concrete deck when it collapsed.
Reporting from Baltimore
A Coast Guard spokeswoman said rescuers were searching for survivors in the water, which is approximately 50 feet deep where the bridge was struck, according to Paul Wiedefeld, Maryland's transportation secretary.
Reporting from Baltimore
Paul Wiedefeld, Maryland’s transportation secretary, called it “catastrophic collapse” at a news conference, adding “we know there were individuals on the bridge at the time.”
Reporting from Baltimore
Signs along Interstate 95 heading into Baltimore blared the news for the morning commuters: "KEY BRIDGE CLOSED," causing slowdowns as cars and trucks sought alternate routes.
Reporting from Baltimore
We are waiting for a news conference with the Maryland Transportation Authority to begin any minute now at the north end of the bridge.
Baltimore’s fire chief, James Wallace, said at a news conference that search and rescue efforts would be guided by dive teams. “We will determine what the temperature of the water is,” he said. “The other issue we have out there is that this water is current influenced. So right now, we think the tide is coming back in. That adds a bit of a challenge to us.”
Reporting from Baltimore
From the base of the north end of the bridge, you can just barely see the ship that struck it. Several dozen shipping containers can be seen stacked on top of it.
Johnny Olszewski Jr., the Baltimore County executive, said at the news conference that he thought people were stunned and reeling from the incident. “I think that’s particularly true for people who are worried about their loved ones right now,” he said. “I think there will be plenty of time to talk about what this bridge means to the community, what it means to commerce.”
Reporting from Baltimore
There is “absolutely no indication” that the vessel struck the bridge intentionally, said Richard Worley, the Baltimore Police commissioner.
Reporting from Baltimore
“This is a tragedy that you can never imagine,” said Brandon Scott, the Baltimore mayor. He said the video of the collapse “looked like something out of an action movie” and asked for people to keep their focus on the rescue efforts and the relatives of anyone missing.
Reporting from Baltimore
James Wallace, the Baltimore City fire chief, said the department has used sonar to detect vehicles that fell into the water. He did not know exactly how many were on the bridge when it collapsed.
Reporting from Baltimore
The sky is brightening in Dundalk, Md., at the north end of where the bridge stood. Helicopters are still moving overhead as city officials announce from the south end that the search and rescue are ongoing.
The Baltimore City fire chief, James Wallace, said in a news conference that officials were searching for “upwards of seven people” and that two people had already been pulled from the water. One person declined medical service, and the other was transported to a trauma center in serious condition, he said.
Reporting from Baltimore
The Maryland Transportation Authority has announced a news conference for 7 a.m.
Reporting from Baltimore
The bridge is completely gone from view at the base of the ramp to board. It would normally be seen lit up and arching across the sky.
Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland declared a state of emergency early Tuesday, according to a statement from his press secretary. “We are working with an interagency team to quickly deploy federal resources from the Biden administration,” Mr. Moore said, adding that his office was in communication with Pete Buttigieg, the U.S. transportation secretary.
It is now an hour before sunrise, and local television stations across Maryland are focused on the collapsed bridge, showing aerial footage of water rescues. Multiple news anchors have also suggested the morning commute will be disastrous for thousands of drivers.
A livestream video of the port appears to show most of the lights of the ship went dark abruptly, just over two minutes before the ship makes contact with the bridge.
Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland called the collapse “horrific” and said that he was praying for those who were on the bridge when it fell into the water. Senator Cardin also warned that drivers should add extra travel time to their morning commutes.
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