Posted on 03/26/2024 11:39:19 AM PDT by Red Badger
Shipping containers damaged by the ship hitting the bridge early on the morning of March 26, 2024. (Baltimore City Fire Department Rescue 1 Team)
The crew of a massive container ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday warned of power issues before the collision, which caused the bridge to collapse into the frigid Patapsco River, officials said.
At least six people believed to be part of a construction crew that was repairing potholes on the bridge remain unaccounted for, Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul J. Wiedefeld said at a news conference Tuesday.
Two people have been pulled from the Patapsco River, Baltimore City Fire Department Chief James Wallace said. One of them was not injured and the other was taken to a local trauma center in “very serious condition,” he said.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed early Tuesday morning after it was struck by a 984-foot cargo ship. (via CNN Newsource)
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said the warning from the ship’s crew likely saved lives.
“I’m thankful for the folks who, once the warning came up, and once notification came up that there was a mayday, who literally by being able to stop cars from coming over the bridge, these people are heroes,” Moore said.
Several vehicles are believed to have fallen into the water, including one as large as a tractor-trailer, Kevin Cartwright, director of communications of the Baltimore City Fire Department said early Tuesday.
“We have an unspeakable tragedy,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott told CNN.
“There were individuals working on the bridge at the time. There are cars in the water – our fire department has confirmed that as they lead this search-and-rescue mission through sonar. That is where our focus is – it’s about those souls, those people we’re trying to find and get out of this water,” Scott said.
Construction workers contracted with the state transportation agency were doing repair work on the bridge at the time of the collapse, Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld said Tuesday morning. He did not specify how many workers were there.
The ship, which hit the bridge just before 1:30 a.m., was the DALI, a Singaporean-flagged container vessel, public affairs officer for the US Coast Guard’s 5th District, Kimberly Reaves, said. It is about 984-feet long, according to MarineTraffic data.
Lights on the ship flickered and a dark plume of smoke could be seen billowing from it before it veered towards a bridge pillar shortly before impact, CNN analysis of data from the MarineTraffic ship-tracking website shows.
No crew members on the ship were injured, ship management company Synergy Group said a statement.
Multiple agencies are investigating the crash, though there is currently “absolutely no indication that it was intentional,” Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said Tuesday morning.
The 1.6-mile, four-lane bridge extends over the Patapsco River and serves as the outermost crossing of the Baltimore harbor and an essential link of I-695, or the Baltimore Beltway.
Here are the latest developments:
• Multiple air and marine units have been deployed for the search, and personnel from the local fire and police departments, as well as the Coast Guard and Baltimore FBI are on scene to assist, officials said Tuesday. • Maryland Gov. Wes Moore declared a state of emergency Tuesday morning. • The White House is closely monitoring the situation, an official told CNN. • US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said he is offering federal support in response to the collapse. • Danish Shipping company Maersk told CNN it chartered the ship, which was carrying Maersk customer cargo. The company said no Maersk personnel were onboard the vessel, which is operated by charter vessel company Synergy Group. • The ship has been inspected 27 times since its was built in 2015 and has had two “deficiencies,” including one for structural damage, according to records from the Electronic Quality Shipping Information System.
Rescue effort underway Dive operations in the search and rescue effort have begun, Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski told CNN.
“The conditions are difficult,” Olszewski said. “We’re talking about a deep channel port. It’s 40, 50 feet of water, strong currents. The weather is windy, the water is cold. And so we certainly worry about those who are in the water, not to mention the fall from the bridge.”
Teams were working “methodically and safely” to ensure “everyone operating here on the scene is safe and that we’re able to make progress without causing adverse harm to anyone else,” Cartwright said.
High tide could present a challenge for rescuers looking for people, Wallace, the fire chief, said.
Officials will rely on the expert divers assisting with the search “to tell us when they believe we’ve reached that non-survivability point,” Wallace said.
All traffic is being detoured away from the bridge, said the Maryland Transportation Authority.
Video of the collision shows a towering boat headed directly toward one of the bridge’s support columns before colliding with it, sending a massive stretch of the bridge crashing into the water below in mere seconds. The impact immediately triggered the collapse of adjacent portions of the bridge.
The crash sent large plumes of smoke and fire into the air and part of the bridge appeared to collapse over the front of the boat, video footage showed. Dark smoke continued to rise into the air for several minutes.
The bridge’s namesake, Francis Scott Key, is believed to have sat near the site of the bridge as he witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814, inspiring him to write the words of the “Star Spangled Banner.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
they dropped the port anchor which would have slung the ship the other way.
they dropped the port anchor which would have slung the ship the other way.
Yes.......................
Thanks for the sanity.
WHY DIDN’T THEY DROP BOTH ANCHORS IMMEDIATELY!!!!
Probably ran on electric wenches..................
Dropping an anchor isn’t magical, in fact it is skill and pre-planning. Lots has to be taken into consideration, the wind, the current, the depth, drag time, what is the consistency of the sea bottom is it sand, rocks, muck? I think dropping an anchor in this emergency situation could have been a hindrance more than a help. It is laughable.
I recall reading (or viewing) that in many situations the anchor doesn't actually play a part in controlling the position of the ship. Instead it is the weight of anchor chain dragging on the sea floor that dictates how much the ship can move.
As a result, when the current direction changes on an anchored ship, the ship has to be prepared for motion as the ship traces a path over the anchor chain.
I think a ship can drop one anchor as it drifts in the current until it has let out a lot of chain. Then the ship can drop another anchor and take up some of the chain on the first anchor while letting out chain on the second anchor.
In its final position the ship would have to drag one or the other chains in order to move.
Freeper sailors feel free to comment.
The chain is much heavier and does most of the work. I used to be really addicted to Deadliest Catch and there was an episode in season 4 or 5 I think where a really nasty storm was hitting the crab grounds and Cpt Hansen gave the camera a bit a tutorial on anchors. He took the ship into a bay where it would be in the lee or a mountain on an island and dropped anchor. And he talked about how the chain is actually the important part, and all it was really going to do was reduce their storm drift. But even then, with a much smaller ship and therefore a much more favorable anchor and chain to ship weight ratio he didn’t expect the anchor to make the ship not move, just not more FAR (mostly to keep the back end of the storm from pushing them into the island).
You really can’t use anchors to stop, especially not when the ship gets this big. There’s a reason big ships get the right of way, changing anything about their movement is so hard. 100,000 tons is a lot of momentum. Nothing relying entirely on drag is stopping that quickly. You need to push backwards.
Knocking this bridge down would be a perfect response from Russia to NATO’s attacks on the Kerch bridge. Just saying.
They dropped the port anchor, but as expected, it did no good. An anchor has to catch on the bottom to stop the ship, and they were going too fast; the anchor “flew” across the bottom.
Right, the smoke was from the ship backing down.
What bridge?
Shipping containers damaged by the ship hitting the bridge.
Were any of the illegals harmed?.
You are correct, provided the anchor windlass been manned at the time, those sailors would have probably been injured or killed when the bridge structure fell on the front end of the ship. None of the crew was reported as injured or killed, therefore the focstle was probably unmanned at the time the ship hit the bridge support structure. JMO
The ship was still in the harbor which should be a controlled area. Until it cleared that bridge it should have had escort tugs which serve to guarantee it stays in the deep channel. As soon as the ship started turning right one of those bigaxx tugs should have been on it. And they are powerful enough to keep it straight.
Looks to me like another case of working on the cheap.
Remember the Evergiven ship that hit an island just south of here, close to the Naval Academy, awhile back? It had left its escort behind and wandered out of the channel. Lot of dumbassness involved.
That’s actually a really interesting point. I don’t know what the situation is with those docs. Do things usually get tugs? Are they escorted through there? I don’t know. Certainly a tugboat or 2 would have really useful there, they are the true emergency brakes of big ships.
WHY DIDN’T THEY DROP BOTH ANCHORS IMMEDIATELY!!!!
The Sonny Liston Memorial Bridge.
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