A cargo ship lost power and rammed into a major bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday, destroying the span in a matter of seconds and plunging it into the river in a terrifying collapse that could disrupt a vital shipping port for months. Six people were missing and presumed dead, and the search for them was suspended until the next day.
The ship’s crew issued a mayday call moments before the crash took down the Francis Scott Key Bridge, enabling authorities to limit vehicle traffic on the span, Maryland’s governor said.
The ship struck one of the bridge’s supports, causing the structure to collapse like a toy. A section of the span came to rest on the bow of the vessel, which caught fire.
With the ship barreling toward the bridge at “a very, very rapid speed,” authorities had just enough time to stop cars from coming over the bridge, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said.
The pilot of the ship that crashed into the Baltimore bridge Tuesday did “everything that he could have done” to slow the ship and keep it from drifting toward the bridge, said Clay Diamond, executive director and general counsel of the American Pilots Association.
Diamond has been in close communication with the Association of Maryland Pilots over what unfolded on the Dali cargo ship in the moments leading up to the crash.
The six people still unaccounted for were part of a construction crew filling potholes on the bridge, said Paul Wiedefeld, the state’s transportation secretary.
A senior executive at the company that employed the workers said Tuesday afternoon that they were presumed dead, given the water’s depth and the length of time since the crash.
Jeffrey Pritzker, executive vice president of Brawner Builders, said the crew was working in the middle of the bridge when it came down. No bodies have been recovered, and rescuers continued the search into the late afternoon.
Continue to pray for Baltimore.
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