In Baltimore, focus on clearing bridge debris
Baltimore Teams of engineers are now focused on the formidable job of hauling the shattered remains of the Francis Scott Key Bridge out of Maryland’s Patapsco River, the first step toward reopening the Port of Baltimore and recovering the bodies of four workers who are still missing and presumed dead.A massive cargo go ship felled the span on Tuesday after striking one of its main supports. Experts are trying to figure out how to “break that bridge up into the right-sized pieces that we can lift,” U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath said on Friday at a news conference.
The tools that are needed have been coming into place. They include seven floating cranes - one of which is one of the largest on the Eastern Seaboard, capable of lifting 1,000 tonnes - 10 tugboats, nine barges, eight salvage vessels and five Coast Guard boats.
“To go out there and see it up close, you realise just how daunting a task this is,” Gov. Wes Moore said Friday afternoon as the massive crane loomed behind him.
Moore surveyed the scene and saw shipping containers ripped apart “like papier-mache.” The broken pieces of the bridge, including its steel trusses, weigh as much as 4,000 tonnes.
The wreckage has blocked ships from entering or leaving the vital port and also stymied the search for the missing workers. “We have to bring a sense of closure to these families,” Moore said.
He also spoke of the disaster’s severe economic impact, saying, “What we’re talking about today is not just about Maryland’s economy; this is about the nation’s economy. The port handles more cars and more farm equipment than any other port in this country.” Maryland’s Department of Transportation is already planning for rebuilding of the span and “considering innovative design, engineering and building methods so that we can quickly deliver this project,” Secretary Paul J. Wiedefeld said.
Adam Ortiz, the Environmental Protection Agency’s mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator, said there was no indication in the water of active releases from the ship or materials hazardous to human health.
Col. Roland L. Butler Jr., superintendent of the Maryland State Police, said the Federal Aviation Administration has been asked to establish a flight restriction area that would begin 3 nautical miles in every direction from the bridge’s centre span and extend upward to 457 metres. Butler advised people to keep drones away and said law enforcement is poised to act on any violations of that airspace.
The victims, members of a crew fixing potholes on the span when it was destroyed, were from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, officials said.
At least eight people initially went into the water when the ship struck the bridge column, and two of them were rescued.
Divers retrieved two bodies from a submerged truck in the river, but finding the other four workers is challenging due to debris and murky water. Baltimoreans gathered at vantage points to watch recovery efforts.