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4 members of road crew still missing, presumed dead
Divers have recovered the bodies of two men who were working on a highway bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday when it was struck by a cargo ship and collapsed into the river below, police say.
The remains of the workers, who were 26 and 35, were found inside a red pickup truck submerged in roughly seven metres of water near the mid-section of the fallen Francis Key Scott Bridge on Wednesday.
Col. Roland L. Butler Jr., superintendent for Maryland State Police, said officials have paused the search for the bodies of four more workers, who are presumed dead, because conditions in the water had become too dangerous.
The two men who died and the four who are presumed dead were from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, Butler said. The man from Hondouras has been identified as Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandova by that country's deputy foreign affairs minister.
Rescuers pulled two construction workers alive from the Patapsco River on Tuesday. One was hospitalized.
All eight were part of a work crew repairing potholes on the road surface when the cargo ship Dali, leaving Baltimore for Sri Lanka, struck one of the bridge's pillars.
Baltimore bridge collapse: Master mariner explains what went wrong
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Experienced master mariner Alain Arsenault explains what likely led up to a massive container ship striking and destroying a major Baltimore bridge, temporarily closing one of America’s biggest ports.
Based on sonar scans, authorities "firmly" believe the other vehicles with victims inside are encased in superstructures and concrete from the collapsed bridge, Butler said during an evening news conference.
Earlier Wednesday, federal safety investigators recovered the ship's data recorder, according to Jennifer Homendy, chair of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). NTSB investigators will also interview the ship's crew, she said.
A highway team also will be looking at the twisted remains of the 2.6-kilometre bridge as they try to determine how and why the ship smashed into the pillar.
Homendy said the Singapore-flagged vessel had one of the newer models of data recorder and that officials would be looking to gather information including "positioning of ship, the vessel itself, speed, you name it."
"It's going to take some time," she said. "We may be on scene five to 10 days."
Homendy said a preliminary fact-based report is typically available in two to four weeks, while an NTSB investigation report with analysis and recommendations can take anywhere from 12 to 24 months.
2 bodies recovered after Baltimore bridge collapse
5 hours ago
Two bodies of the six presumed dead have been recovered from the Baltimore harbour following the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, despite tough weather conditions. Officials have seized the Dali container ship's black box and are analyzing the information it contains.
Homendy says there were 56 containers holding 746 tonnes of hazardous materials on board the Dali, some of which were breached.
"We have seen a sheen on the waterway," she told reporters Wednesday evening. "Federal, state and local authorities are aware of that and they will be in charge of addressing those issues."
The materials in the containers, she said, were mainly corrosives, flammables and some miscellaneous materials like lithium ion batteries.
The disaster has forced the indefinite closure of vessel traffic in the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest on the U.S. Eastern seaboard, and created a traffic quagmire for Baltimore and the surrounding region.
Maryland Gov. West Moore said Wednesday divers in the water faced dangerous conditions in the frigid waters of the Patapsco.
"They are down there in darkness where they can literally see about a foot in front of them. They are trying to navigate mangled metal, and they're also in a place it is now presumed that people have lost their lives," he said.
The 289-metre ship had reported a loss of propulsion shortly before impact and dropped anchor to slow the vessel, giving transportation authorities time to halt traffic on the bridge before the crash. That move likely prevented a higher death toll, authorities said.
Divers working in 'frigid conditions' after Baltimore bridge collapse
17 hours ago
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore praises search-and-rescue crews early Wednesday as they resumed their efforts around a collapsed bridge. Investigators will probe what happened when a cargo ship hit the critical bridge, Moore said, as well as look at the immediate response and aftermath.
It was unclear whether authorities also tried to alert the work crew ahead of the impact.
Moore said Tuesday that the bridge was up to code with no known structural issues. There was no evidence of intentionality in the crash, officials in law enforcement at the state and federal level said.
An inspection of the ship carried out in Chile last year found "propulsion and auxiliary machinery" deficiencies, according to data on the public Equasis website, which provides information on ships.
But Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority said in a statement that the vessel passed two separate foreign-port inspections in June and September 2023. It said a faulty fuel pressure gauge was rectified before the vessel departed the port following its June 2023 inspection.
How protected are Canadian bridges from collisions?
1 day ago
The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore has some experts questioning whether Canadian infrastructure could withstand such a devastating container ship crash.
Video footage on social media showed the vessel slamming into the 47-year-old Key Bridge in darkness, the headlights of vehicles visible on the span as it crashed into the water and the ship caught fire.
All 22 crew members on the ship, owned by Grace Ocean Pte Ltd, were accounted for, its management company, Synergy Marine Pte Ltd., reported.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said closure of the port would have a "major and protracted impact to supply chains." The Port of Baltimore handles more automobile freight than any other U.S. port — more than 750,000 vehicles in 2022, according to port data, as well as container and bulk cargo, ranging from sugar to coal.
Still, economists and logistics experts said they doubted the port closure would unleash a major U.S. supply chain crisis or major spike in the price of goods, due to ample capacity at rival shipping hubs along the Eastern seaboard.
Baltimore bridge collapse an 'unthinkable tragedy,' mayor says
13 hours ago
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott says the focus right now is on recovering those who were lost in the bridge collapse.
With files from CBC News and The Associated Press
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Credit belongs to : www.cbc.ca
