The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed early Tuesday after being hit by a cargo ship, with large parts of the bridge falling into the Patapsco River.
At least eight people fell into the water, members of a construction crew working on the bridge at the time, officials said. Two were rescued, one uninjured and one in serious condition, and two bodies were recovered on Wednesday. The remaining four are presumed dead. The workers are believed to be the only victims in the disaster.
Here's what we know so far.
A Singapore-flagged vessel, the 985-foot Dali, crashed into the Key Bridge about 1:30 a.m. on its way out of the Port of Baltimore. The container ship lost power just before it drifted into the bridge, and authorities believe the incident was an accident.
Clay Diamond, executive director of the American Pilots' Association, said the ship experienced a "full blackout" about 1:20 a.m., meaning it lost both engine power and electrical power to its control and communications systems. The pilot, who had more than a decade of experience, attempted to slow the vessel but was unable to. A diesel backup generator kicked in, restoring electrical systems, and the pilot radioed an emergency message to have the bridge closed. The ship was traveling about seven knots, or eight miles an hour, when it struck the bridge at 1:29 a.m., the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said their investigation into the incident will probably take 12 to 24 months.
Singapore's Maritime Port Authority said Tuesday evening local time that it was also investigating the crash and providing "full cooperation" to the U.S. Coast Guard.
Ian Firth, a British structural engineer and bridge designer, told The Post on Tuesday that the bridge had a "lightweight" support structure and appeared to have vessel protection devices in the water around it but that the objects were "not adequate."
A construction team was on the bridge at the time of the collapse, repairing potholes and masonry, officials said. Two people were rescued Tuesday, two bodies were recovered on Wednesday and the four who remain missing are presumed dead.
The victims recovered were identified as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, who was from Mexico and lived in Baltimore, and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, who was from Guatemala and lived in Dundalk, Md. They were found together inside a pickup truck beneath approximately 25 feet of water.
Other victims who have been identified included Maynor Suazo Sandoval, 38, from Honduras and Miguel Luna from El Salvador. Sandoval, the father of a 5-year-old and 17-year-old, left his small town in Honduras nearly two decades ago but remained closely tied to his family there, a relative told The Post. Luna, from El Salvador, was a father of three and worked for the construction company for about 15 years.
The names of the remaining two victims have not been released.
Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace told a news conference on Tuesday night that one of the rescued workers was in "very serious condition." Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) said he had spoken to one of them and called his survival "pretty miraculous."
Synergy Marine Group, which owned and managed Dali, said in a news release that all 22 sailors, who were Indian nationals, were uninjured.
Recovery efforts were called off Wednesday as conditions made it impossible for divers to continue their search through wreckage. Officials will begin a salvage operation, Col. Roland L. Butler Jr., secretary of the Maryland State Police, said Wednesday.
"We have exhausted all search efforts in the areas around this wreckage," he said. Based on sonar scans, they believe vehicles are "encased in the superstucture and concrete that we tragically saw come down," he said.
Divers have faced harrowing conditions throughout efforts, including frigid waters, low visibility and dangerous debris. Investigators revealed Wednesday that hazardous mater
Rebuilding the bridge will probably be a costly and lengthy undertaking. President Biden on Tuesday said he expects the federal government to fully fund its reconstruction.
Its collapse represents a significant disruption for East Coast shipping. Its wreckage is blocking the Port of Baltimore, and vessel traffic to and from the port was suspended "until further notice," according to the Maryland Port Administration website. The cleanup could be a "long-term project," Carl Bentzel, a commissioner with the Federal Maritime Commission, told The Post.
Automakers such as Mazda, Mercedes-Benz and Subaru are major users of the facility, which is also the nation's leading "roll-on, roll-off" port, handling more self-propelled cargo such as heavy construction equipment than any other. Ports in New York-New Jersey, Philadelphia, Delaware and Norfolk are likely to share the rerouted cargo load, Joe Harris, senior director for communications with the Virginia Port Authority, said.
The Maryland State Highway Administration, meanwhile, in a post on social media, encouraged drivers to "prepare for extra commuting time until further notice" after the bridge collapse severed an important part of Baltimore's beltway. The Key Bridge carried about 31,000 vehicles a day, according to federal data.
The Singapore-flagged container ship is about 158 feet wide and 985 feet long and was built in 2015, according to MarineTraffic.com. It was en route to Colombo, Sri Lanka, according to Vessel Finder, which tracks global shipping, and had been due to arrive on April 22. Before Baltimore, it had called at ports in Norfolk and New York in the United States after traversing the Panama Canal.
A deficiency in the Dali's systems relating to "propulsion and auxiliary machinery" was discovered when the ship was inspected last June, according to the Tokyo MOU, an intergovernmental shipping regulator in the Asia-Pacific region. But a follow-up inspection found no outstanding deficiencies.
The registered owner of the ship is Grace Ocean Pte Ltd., and it is managed by Synergy Marine Group. Synergy Group controls a fleet of nearly 400 vessels and employs more than 14,000 seafarers, according to its website.
An official from Grace Ocean told the global shipping news website TradeWinds that the company is "working with the ship's technical manager, Synergy Marine, to determine what happened."
In 2016, the Dali struck a stone wall at a port in Belgium, sustaining "hull damage impairing seaworthiness," according to Equasis, a maritime data service created by European authorities. VesselFinder, a maritime monitoring service, reported that no one was injured and no cargo was spilled. The ship was detained for repairs.
The headquarters of the Singapore-based Synergy Group was dark when a Post reporter visited Tuesday evening local time. Two employees who answered the doorbell said the office was closed for the day. "No questions," said one employee, slowly backing away from the door as his phone rang repeatedly.
Authorities had halted traffic heading for the bridge in response to a mayday call issued by the ship after it lost power.
Police radio traffic from 1:27 a.m. captures responders rushing to evacuate and hold traffic after an officer announced that a ship had lost control of its steering, according to records from Broadcastify, an open-source audio streaming service.
One asks whether there are workers on the bridge and whether anyone can contact the "foreman to see if we can get them off the bridge temporarily." But about a minute after the message reporting a loss of steering, someone shouts, "The whole bridge just fell down!"
Jennifer Hassan, Ian Duncan, Scott Dance, Maria Luisa Paul, Erin Cox, David J. Lynch, Patrick Svitek, Amy B Wang, Jasmine Hilton, Teo Armus, Emily Davies, Lauren Tierney, Justin Jouvenal, Imogen Piper, Sarah Cahlan, Daniel Wolfe and William Neff contributed to this report.
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