A 2.5 km long metal bridge collapsed at 1:35 am this Tuesday in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, United States, after a freighter flying the Singapore flag collided with one of the pillars of the bridge. structure for unknown reasons.
Shocking images published on social networks show the moment of impact and then the collapse of the structure.
The serious accident caused the vehicles traveling on the bridge to fall into the Patapsco River from a height of 30 meters. The exact number of those affected is unknown at the moment, although the authorities are looking for around twenty people.
The rescue teams, with several Coast Guard vessels, specialized divers and helicopters, are working against the clock to try to rescue people who have fallen into the river, whose waters are currently at around 9 degrees of temperature.
The commanding officer of the Baltimore Fire Department, James Wallace, explained that “two people have already been rescued” from the river waters, one of them unharmed and another who “has been transferred in critical condition” to a nearby hospital.
“We were able to remove two people from the water, but the search operation will last hours because the area in which we are searching is very large. We have active aerial means from different security forces, also naval, sonar equipment, units and multiple resources,” Wallace explained in statements to the press.
The mayor of Baltimore, Brandon M. Scott, has traveled to the scene and has described what happened as an “unthinkable tragedy”, emphasizing that “finding the missing is the most important thing” at this time.
For his part, the governor of the state of Maryland, Wes Moore, has declared a state of emergency.
Richard Worley, spokesman for the Baltimore Police, has stressed that “There is no indication” that the boat crashed into the bridge deliberately and he has ruled out that it was a terrorist action.
FBI agents have gone to the scene to investigate the causes of the collision.
The vessel that caused the disaster is the “Dali”, a cargo ship from the Maersk shipping company operated by Synergy Marine Group, 300 meters long and whose destination was Colombo, in Sri Lanka, according to data from Vessel Finder.
The company that owns the ship has indicated that tAll crew members are safe and there have been no injuries on the ship.
The ship’s management is cooperating with authorities to determine the cause of the accident.
The Francis Scott Key was a steel truss bridge opened in March 1977 with a total length of more than two kilometers that is crossed by approximately 11.5 million vehicles per year.
