‘LIKE SOMETHING OUT OF AN ACTION MOVIE’

Bridge collapses into Baltimore river after vessel hits support column; state of emergency declared

Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed early Tuesday morning after a support column was struck by a container ship, sending at least seven cars into the Patapsco River, launching a searchand-rescue operation and prompting Gov. Wes Moore to declare a state of emergency.

In a Tuesday morning news conference, just a few hours after the incident, Baltimore Fire Department Chief James Wallace said authorities are “still very much in an active search and rescue posture,” noting they are searching for “upwards of seven individuals” and that sonar has detected the presence of vehicles in the water. There is no indication that the event was intentional, Wallace said.

“This is a tragedy that you could never imagine … It looked like something out of an action movie,” Mayor Brandon Scott said.

Video from the incident shows the container ship, billowing smoke, colliding with a support beam and quickly causing much of the bridge to collapse. Just before the collision, the ship’s lights appear to turn off, then on, then off again.

The ship had been under the operation of a pilot.

All traffic has been rerouted from the 1.6-mile steel bridge that is part of Interstate 695.

“We know that we have a long road ahead, not just in search and rescue, but in the fallout from this,” Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. said in the news conference.

Priscilla Thompson, who lives on the water in Dundalk facing the Key Bridge, was awoken in the middle of the night by the horrible sound of crashing steel.

“I really thought it was an earthquake or something because it shook this house so bad,” she said. “It shook it — it really rattled it — for four or five seconds.”

“And then, it got real quiet,” she said.

Moore said in a statement that he has declared a state of emergency and will work to “quickly deploy federal resources.”

“We are thankful for the brave men and women who are carrying out efforts to rescue those involved and pray for everyone’s safety,” Moore

KARL MERTON FERRON — THE BALTIMORE SUN Emergency boats float around a container ship whose bow received damage after the Francis Scott Key Bridge crumbled onto the vessel and into the Patapsco River following a collision with the structure overnight.

KARL MERTON FERRON — THE BALTIMORE SUN Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed early Tuesday, after a support column was struck by a vessel.

BARBARA HADDOCK TAYLOR — THE BALTIMORE SUN/TNS Governor Wes Moore near the bridge. Lt. Governor Aruna Miller is on left; Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski is behind them, as well as Senate President Bill Ferguson.