This is heartbreaking audio from Baltimore officials as they rushed to stop traffic on the bridge seconds before it collapsed after being hit by a freighter.
“I need one of you on the south side, one of you on the north side, to stop all traffic on Key Bridge,” one person is heard saying. “There is a ship approaching that has just lost its way, so until we get it under control, we have to stop all traffic.”
The ship’s crew issued a mayday call moments before the accident brought down the Francis Scott Key Bridge Tuesday morning, allowing authorities to limit vehicle traffic on the span, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said. .
Approximately 90 seconds after they called for help, another is heard on the audio reporting that the bridge has collapsed.
‘The whole bridge just fell down. Start, start whoever… everyone. “The whole bridge just collapsed,” they said.
Then another person says, ‘I can’t get to the other side, sir. The bridge has fallen.’
Baltimore officials had about 90 seconds to divert cars from the bridge after the Dali issued an emergency call Tuesday morning.
The ship, the Singapore-flagged Dali, had been traveling for 20 minutes when it crashed into a support column on the bridge.
The ship’s crew managed to issue a mayday call before it crashed into the bridge, allowing officials to prevent cars from passing over the bridge.
An injured person was photographed being loaded into an ambulance after being taken off the ship following the collapse.
The ship collided with one of the bridge supports, causing the structure to collapse like a toy. She fell into the water within seconds, a shocking sight that was captured on video and posted on social media. The ship caught fire and thick black smoke came out of it.
As the ship moved toward the bridge at “a very, very fast speed,” authorities had just enough time to prevent cars from crossing the bridge, Governor Moore said.
“These people are heroes,” Moore said. “Last night they saved lives.”
The accident occurred in the middle of the night, well before the busy morning commute over the bridge that spans 1.6 miles and was used by 12 million vehicles last year.
The six people still missing were part of a construction crew filling potholes on the bridge, said Paul Wiedefeld, the state’s transportation secretary. One of those rescued was taken to a hospital, he said.
Several vehicles also fell into the water, although authorities did not believe anyone was inside.
‘You would never think you would see, physically see, the Key Bridge collapse like that. “It was like something out of an action movie,” said Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, calling it “an unthinkable tragedy.”
Rescue personnel gather on the bank of the Patapsco River during search and rescue efforts.
Rescue personnel gather on the bank of the Patapsco River
State officials are using sonar detection devices to search for crew members who fell into 47F water while working to repair potholes in the 185-foot bridge when it collapsed.
Governor Moore declared a state of emergency on Tuesday morning following the catastrophic collision, which occurred around 1:30 a.m. The ship, the Singapore-flagged Dali, had been traveling for 20 minutes when she crashed into a support column on the bridge.
President Joe Biden addressed the bridge collapse from the White House shortly after noon EST and said he spoke with Maryland officials and told them he will send federal aid.
“To the people of Baltimore: We are with you, we will stay with you as long as it takes,” he said. “The Port of Baltimore is one of the nation’s premier seaports and we’re going to get it back up and running as soon as possible.”
Biden added that he has directed his team to work on rebuilding both the port and the bridge “as soon as humanly possible” and plans to visit Baltimore as “as soon as I can.”
Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul J. Wiedefeld said eight people were on the bridge when it collapsed, and two of them were rescued from the water, one refused medical treatment and the other was taken to the hospital before being released. high.
Authorities said they have detected five vehicles submerged underwater thanks to infrared and side-scan sonar technology: three passenger vehicles, a cement truck and a fifth vehicle.
Stunning images show the moment the ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, sending the colossal steel structure into the Patapsco River.
“Pilots move ships in and out of the port of Baltimore,” Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld said at a news conference Tuesday.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore (center) walks with staff and law enforcement along the shore of the Patapsco River.
It is still unclear what caused the accident. The video shows the ship going dark seconds before the collision, suggesting a power outage on board. The crew of 22 remains on board and is now being questioned by the Coast Guard.
In the latest update from officials, Governor Moore said divers and air crews are currently working “to save lives” and will update the public as work continues.
“I recognize that many of us are hurting and scared right now,” the Democrat said shortly before 10 a.m.
“I want to be clear: we are still investigating what happened, but our preliminary conclusions point to an accident, we have not seen any credible evidence of a terrorist attack.”
FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Baltimore office, William DelBagno, said there is “no specific or credible information to suggest there are links to terrorism in this incident.”
The collapse is sure to create a logistical nightmare for months, if not years, for the East Coast, shutting down ship traffic at the Port of Baltimore and snarling cargo and passenger traffic.
According to The Baltimore Sun, the Dali is undertaking an especially long 28-day voyage because the crew wanted to go around South Africa to avoid the Red Sea, where Yemeni Houthi rebels have been attacking Western ships to protest the war in Gaza.
It was not immediately clear what caused the freighter to crash into the bridge well before the busy morning commute in what one official called an “developing mass casualty event” in a major U.S. city outside Washington.
According to an initial report from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the container ship “lost propulsion” as it left port.
“The ship notified the MD Department of Transportation (MDOT) that they had lost control of the ship and that a tie-up with the bridge was possible,” the report says. “The ship collided with the bridge causing a total collapse.”
The ship crashed into one of the bridge’s supports, causing the structure to break and bend in several places and fall into the water in a matter of seconds – a shocking spectacle that was captured on video and posted on social media. The ship caught fire and thick black smoke came out of it.
The rescue effort incorporates Coast Guard ships, local police ships, the Baltimore Fire Department, volunteer fire departments from surrounding areas, as well as teams of divers as the desperate search for survivors continues.
There appeared to be an explosion on the container ship when it collided with the bridge, sending containers and diesel into the water. One of the vehicles that fell into the water was a tractor-trailer.
The ship was not piloted by its own crew but by local pilots who were used specifically to avoid accidents.
The ship involved is the 948-foot-long Dali, a Singapore-flagged container that could be seen on ship-tracking websites placed under the bridge after the accident.
It left Baltimore’s Seagirt Marine Terminal at 12:24 a.m., and at 1:25 a.m. it began to slow and veer off course. The video shows lights going out on board just before the accident.
The Dali ship was headed to Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is not clear what load she was carrying. The ship was due to land in Asia on April 27.
According to the ship’s owners, all crew members were accounted for and no injuries were reported.