By Lea Skene
Associated Press
BALTIMORE 鈥擜 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.
The ship鈥檚 crew issued a mayday call moments before the crash took down the Bridge, enabling authorities to limit vehicle traffic on the span, Maryland鈥檚 governor said.
The ship , causing the structure to collapse like a toy. The vessel caught fire, and thick, black smoke billowed out of it.
With the ship barreling toward the bridge at 鈥渁 very, very rapid speed,鈥� authorities had just enough time to stop cars from coming over the bridge, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said.
鈥淭hese people are heroes,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淭hey saved lives last night.鈥�
The crash happened in the middle of the night, long before the busy morning commute on the bridge that stretches 1.6 miles (2.6 km) and was used by 12 million vehicles last year.
The Volunteer Firefighters from , the Volunteer Swift Water Team and the Special Operations Team are assisting the Unified Command at the Baltimore Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.
— Harford Co., MD Fire & EMS (@HarforCoFireEMS)
The six people still unaccounted for were part of a construction crew filling potholes on the bridge, said Paul Wiedefeld, the state鈥檚 transportation secretary.
Rescuers pulled two people out of the water. One person who was treated at a hospital was discharged hours later.
Multiple vehicles also went into the water, although authorities did not believe anyone was inside.
鈥淚t looked like something out of an action movie,鈥� said Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, calling it 鈥渁n unthinkable tragedy.鈥�
A police dispatcher put out a call just before the collapse saying a ship had lost its steering and asked officers to stop all traffic, according to Maryland Transportation Authority first responder radio traffic obtained from the archive.
One officer who stopped traffic radioed that he was going to drive onto the bridge to alert the construction crew. But seconds later, a frantic officer said: 鈥淭he whole bridge just fell down. Start, start whoever, everybody ... the whole bridge just collapsed.鈥�
On a separate radio channel for maintenance and construction workers, someone said officers were stopping traffic because a ship had lost steering. There was no follow-up order to evacuate, and 30 seconds later the bridge collapsed and the channel went silent.
From 1960 to 2015, there were 35 worldwide due to ship or barge collisions, according to the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure.
is almost sure to create a logistical nightmare for months, if not years, along the East Coast, shutting down ship traffic at the Port of Baltimore, a major shipping hub. The accident will also snarl cargo and commuter traffic.
鈥淟osing this bridge will devastate the entire area, as well as the entire East Coast,鈥� Maryland state Sen. Johnny Ray Salling said.
Highway signs as far south as Virginia warned drivers of delays associated with the bridge.
Authorities said sonar had detected vehicles in the water, which is about 50 feet (15 meters) deep. The water temperature was about 47 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius) before dawn Tuesday, that collects data for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Synergy Marine Group 鈥� which manages the ship, called the Dali 鈥� confirmed the vessel hit a pillar of the bridge at about 1:30 a.m. while in control of one or more pilots, who are local specialists who help guide vessels safely into ports. The ship is owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd.
Synergy said all crew members and the two pilots on board were accounted for, and there were no reports of any injuries.
The ship was moving at 8 knots, roughly 9 mph (14.8 kph), the governor said.
Jagged remnants of the bridge could be seen jutting up from the water鈥檚 surface. The on-ramp ended abruptly where the span once began.
Donald Heinbuch, a retired chief with Baltimore鈥檚 fire department, said he was startled awake by a deep rumbling that shook his house for several seconds. 鈥淚t felt like an earthquake,鈥� he said.
He drove to the river鈥檚 edge and couldn鈥檛 believe what he saw.
鈥淭he ship was there, and the bridge was in the water, like it was blown up,鈥� he said.
The bridge spans the Patapsco River at the entrance to a busy harbor, which leads to the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean. Opened in 1977, the bridge is named for
Wiedefeld said all vessel traffic into and out of the port would be suspended until further notice, though the facility was still open to trucks.
President Joe Biden said he planned to travel to Baltimore 鈥渁s quickly as I can鈥� and that he intends for the federal government to pick up the entire cost of rebuilding the bridge.
鈥淭his is going to take some time,鈥� Biden said. 鈥淭he people of Baltimore can count on us, though, to stick with them at every step of the way until the port is reopened and the bridge is rebuilt.鈥�
The FBI was on the scene and said there was no credible information to suggest terrorism.
The Dali was headed from Baltimore to Colombo, Sri Lanka, and flying under a Singapore flag, according to data from Marine Traffic. The container ship is about 985 feet (300 meters) long and about 157 feet (48 meters) wide, according to the website.
Inspectors found a problem with the Dali鈥檚 machinery in June, but a more recent examination didn鈥檛 identify any deficiencies, according to the shipping information system Equasis.
Danish shipping giant Maersk said it had chartered the vessel. No Maersk crew and personnel were on board.
Last year, the Port of Baltimore handled a record 52.3 million tons of foreign cargo worth $80 billion, according to the state.
The head of a supply chain management company said Americans should expect shortages of goods from the effect of the collapse on ocean container shipping and East Coast trucking.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not just the port of Baltimore that鈥檚 going to be impacted,鈥� said Ryan Petersen, CEO of Flexport.
The collapse, though, is not likely to hurt worldwide trade because Baltimore is not a major port for container vessels, but its facilities are more important when it comes to goods such as farm equipment and autos, said Judah Levine, head of research for global freight booking platform Freightos.