Baltimore Bridge Collapse: Cargo Ship Disaster Explained

TFD – Dive into the aftermath of the Baltimore bridge collapse caused by a cargo ship disaster.

Early on Tuesday, a huge cargo ship collided with Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing the 1.6-mile span to collapse like a stack of toothpicks and sending people and automobiles into the icy sea below. At a press briefing on Tuesday night, a Coast Guard spokesman stated that six persons are thought to be deceased.

What is known about the disaster is as follows:

What caused the bridge to collapse?

A container ship flying the Singaporean flag named DALI impacted one of the 47-year-old bridge’s supports just before 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday, according to officials.

The ship’s local pilot, according to Clay Diamond, executive director and general counsel of the American Pilots Association, “did everything that he could have done” to slow the vessel and prevent it from drifting toward the bridge, CNN said.

Diamond stated, “There was a complete blackout on the ship, meaning that the ship lost engine power and electrical power, just minutes before the bridge.”

Then, he continued, the pilot “did everything that he could have done” to slow the ship down and prevent it from drifting toward the bridge to the right.

With haste, the pilot sent a series of commands, requesting the dropping of an anchor and a hard rudder to port, or as far left as feasible.

The 95,000 gross ton ship’s lights can be seen going out and then back on in video as it approaches the bridge. Diamond claims that this is probably because an emergency generator kicked in after the initial blackout. However, the ship’s engines were never restarted.

In a written statement, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore verified the DALI was not powered by engines and stated that dropping anchor is standard procedure in an emergency.

“It was unable to maintain the desired heading and collided with the Francis Scott Key bridge as a result (of the momentary loss of power),” the statement stated, citing Synergy Marine Pte Ltd, the ship management company.

The 984-foot-long ship, which Danish shipping behemoth Maersk had rented to deliver cargo, was also seen in the wrong portion of the waterway as it approached the bridge in the catastrophe footage.

Rather than passing beneath the center of the bridge, where the clearance is greatest, the spacecraft struck a pillar towards one side of the structure.

Paul J. Wiedefeld, the secretary of transportation for Maryland, told CNN that “if you look at it, it’s off center of where it should be.”

“It belongs in the main channel, which is beneath that main span, obviously.”

A recovery operation replaces the six missing persons’ rescue operations.

Six persons were on the bridge when it collapsed; officials stated during separate press briefings that they are missing and presumed dead.

According to Wiedefeld, the six are construction workers who were patching potholes on the bridge’s surface when the ship went down. According to Wiedefeld, the construction activity “had nothing to do with a structural issue at all.”

Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath of the Coast Guard informed reporters that they had moved from rescue to recovery mode due to the water’s temperature, the amount of time that has passed since the event, and the findings of their thorough search.

He declared during a press conference, “At this point we do not believe that we are going to find any of these individuals still alive.”

According to representatives of Guatemala’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, two of the missing employees were from that nation.

According to Baltimore City Fire Chief James Wallace, two more individuals who were on the bridge were saved from the Patapsco River on Tuesday morning. He stated that one of them was unharmed while the other was brought to a trauma facility in “very serious condition.”

The University of Maryland Medical Center said that the hospitalized patient had been released by Tuesday afternoon.

Wallace said to CNN on Tuesday afternoon that the search involved eight dive teams and at least fifty persons.

After the collision, cars submerged in water were found using sonar equipment, however Wiedefeld stated that no victims are known to have been in those vehicles. The automobiles are said to have belonged to the building crew.

Per Synergy Group, no one was hurt on board the DALI.

Officials claim that the only vehicles on the building were those of construction workers.

There will be traffic delays even though many of the 30,000 to 35,000 cars and trucks that crossed the Key Bridge every day might be diverted through the two adjacent tunnels. Additionally, as it is forbidden to transport dangerous chemicals through tunnels, they will take a lengthier detour.

“An Engineers Guide to Baltimore,” published by Johns Hopkins University, claims that the Key bridge integrated “the behaviors of an arch, truss, and cantilever.” This bridge is the second longest continuous steel truss bridge in the United States without expansion joints.

Situation too risky to search

Due to the hazardous conditions, search and rescue efforts have been suspended for the night, Wallace stated on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360.”

Wallace claimed that the steel components of the bridge that are suspended from additional unsupported debris are quite unstable. He said that the Dali’s bow has a lot of “steel superstructure” that is “very unstable” and that there are containers dangling from the ship.

Wallace stated that they are also worried about the bridge’s remaining portions’ structural stability.

Wallace stated that vision decreases as one goes farther down the river. The water depths beneath the bridge range from forty feet to over sixty feet. He continued, “Divers experience colder temperatures and zero visibility the deeper they go.”

Wallace reported that the Patapsco River’s surface water temperature was approximately 47 degrees with an air temperature between 44 and 45 degrees when the teams arrived on Tuesday morning.

According to the University of Minnesota, swimmers without flotation can endure for 30 to 60 minutes in water that is between 40 and 50 degrees. The likelihood of survival with flotation devices is two to three hours.

Was this a deliberate action or an accident?

State and federal officials stated that there is no proof that the ship’s collision or the bridge’s collapse were planned events.

The FBI is present nonetheless. According to former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, there are several explanations for that.

According to McCabe, “the first is that, due to mutual aid agreements, all local, federal, and other law enforcement entities in the area will show up and contribute whatever resources they have when you have an event like this that calls for a massive response (and) resources,” CNN reported.

McCabe stated that the FBI, for instance, has “very experienced dive teams” that can assist with the search.

Secondly, the FBI can assist in verifying if the catastrophe was deliberate. In order to determine whether there is something in the background that we should have been aware of and on the lookout for, McCabe stated, “They will go through all of their intelligence holdings to see if there is any chatter talking about plans or targeting, about locations like this.”

“Obviously, we’ve heard from numerous officials that that is not the case at this point.”

“We have a team of 24 on scene,” Homendy said Tuesday afternoon.

Experts in maritime operations comprise the team, and they will gather data on vessel operations, safety records, ship owner and operator, corporate policy, and any safety management systems.

“A team is here retrieving the recorders. Additionally, Homendy stated, “We have a highway safety team that consists of structural engineers and bridge experts who will be here and are continuing to come in.”

According to President Joe Biden, he is determined to assist in the bridge’s reconstruction as quickly as feasible.

“I want to see the entire cost of rebuilding that bridge covered by the federal government. And I anticipate that Congress will back my endeavor,” the president declared.

“We’re going to do everything we can to protect those jobs and help those workers, because that port is essential to 15,000 jobs,” stated Biden.

“It’s one of the most crucial components for the quality of life and the Northeast economy.”

Supply chains will be significantly and permanently impacted, according to US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and returning to “normalcy” will be challenging.

It won’t happen quickly. It won’t be cheap. However, we shall rebuild as a team, stated the secretary of transportation. “Estimating how long it will take to clear the channel and reopen the port is premature.”

Contributors to this story included CNN’s Allison Gordon, Flora Charner and Amy Simonson, Jennifer Henderson, Sahar Akbarzai, Andy Rose, Derek van Dam, Monica Garrett, Anne-Claire Stapleton, Louis Mian, Casey Riddle, and Kit Maher.