US bridge collapses after ship collision
A CONTAINER ship smashed into a four-lane bridge in the United States port of Baltimore in darkness yesterday, causing it to collapse and sending cars and people plunging into the river below.
Rescuers pulled out two survivors, and were searching for more in the Patapsco River after huge spans of the 2.57-kilometer Francis Scott Key Bridge crumpled into the water.
Baltimore officials said at least seven vehicles plunged into the water but could not give an exact figure.
Kevin Cartwright, the spokesperson for Baltimore City Fire Department, earlier said that as many as 20 people could be in the river along with “numerous vehicles, and possibly a tractor-trailer or a vehicle as large as a tractortrailer.”
“This is a mass-casualty, multi-agency event,” he said. “This operation is going to extend for many days.”
Yesterday’s disaster may be the worst US bridge collapse since 2007 when the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing 13.
A live video posted on YouTube showed the ship ploughing into the bridge in darkness. The headlights of vehicles could be seen on the bridge as it collapsed and the ship caught fire.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore declared a state of emergency to quickly deploy federal resources to deal with the emergency. The FBI in Baltimore said on X its personnel were “on scene.”
Baltimore is the busiest US port for car shipments, handling more than 750,000 vehicles in 2022, data show.
The ship was identified by LSEG ship tracking data as a Singapore-flagged container ship, the Dali. The registered owner of the ship is Grace Ocean Pte Ltd and the manager is Synergy Marine Group, according to LSEG data.
(Reuters)