Baltimore bridge being cut up after ship collision
The crumpled Baltimore bridge was being cut up in preparation for its removal, Maryland’s governor said on Sunday, promising “progress” was being made after it was destroyed by an out-of-control ship.
Demolition crews using blow torches sliced through the top part of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed when the Dali cargo vessel lost power and struck it on Tuesday, killing six people.
“Progress is beginning to happen despite the fact that it’s an incredibly complicated situation,” said Maryland Governor Wes Moore, adding that weather conditions and debris in the water meant divers were unable to assist with the recovery operation.
“We now do have cranes, the Chesapeake 1,000, which has a capacity of lifting a thousand pounds,” Moore told CNN on Sunday.
“(Workers have) begun to cut up the remnants of the bridge that we can then prepare for removal.”
Video footage showed sparks flying as crews suspended in cages cut through an upper section of the steel structure.
The Unified Command said the wreckage will lifted away and processed at a Baltimore shipping site before being taken to a disposal site.
Moore said the recovery would be a “long road,” adding: “This is a very complex operation, but movement is happening.”
The difficult conditions have hampered efforts to recover the bodies of the six road workers — all Latino immigrants — who died when the bridge collapsed, with just two bodies recovered so far.
Shipping in and out of Baltimore — one of the United States’ busiest ports — has been halted, with the waterway impassable due to the sprawling wreckage.