From WSJ
Key Baltimore Bridge Collapses After Being Hit by Cargo Ship, Six Missing
Singaporean ship lost propulsion before striking the Francis Scott Key Bridge over the frigid Patapsco River
Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key bridge collapsed, sending vehicles and people into the water, authorities said. Police said the case was being treated as a mass casualty incident. Photo: Julia Nikhinson/Reuters
By Costas Paris, Jon Kamp, Paul Kiernanand Gareth Vipers Updated March 26, 2024 2:58 pm ET
BALTIMORE—A major Baltimore bridge collapsed Tuesday after a large containership plowed into it, prompting a search for six people and disrupting one of America’s busiest ports.
The Singaporean ship, called the Dali, lost propulsion as it was leaving a nearby port, according to an unclassified report from the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The Dali struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge, named after the poet whose lyrics became “The Star-Spangled Banner. The collapse severed a part of Interstate 695.
The impact appeared to be an accident after the crew warned authorities of a power issue on board, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said.
“This morning our state is in shock,” Moore said, while adding that the immediate focus was on search and rescue operations. Federal officials said there was no evidence of terrorism.
Officials said Tuesday that they were still searching for six people who were connected to a construction crew filling potholes when the ship struck the bridge, said Paul Wiedefeld, Maryland’s transportation secretary. One person had been rescued and is in the hospital, and another wasn’t hospitalized, he added.
Declaring the bridge collapse “a terrible accident,” President Biden said he intended for the federal government to pay the entire cost of reconstruction. “We’re not leaving until this job gets done,” he said, adding that he would travel to Baltimore soon.
How the ship crashed
The ship was moving around eight knots, according to authorities. The speed is typical for vessels traveling in the area.
The Singaporean containership, called the Dali, remained stuck under the bridge Tuesday morning with all crew still on board.
The Dali picked up its anchor and began to move at 12:28 a.m., according to Coast Guard officials. At 1:24 a.m., the vessel’s lights flickered on and off as it traveled, and then at 1:26 a.m., the ship began to change course. It struck the bridge at 1:27 a.m. One official said the ship issued a mayday call shortly before it hit the bridge.
Video from the incident shows the ship slamming into one of the bridge’s support pillars and the structure completely collapsing into the Patapsco River. The governor said the ship’s warning helped officials stop cars from going over the bridge. He also said it would take a “long term build” to replace the bridge.
“The vessel notified MD Department of Transportation (MDOT) that they had lost control of the vessel and a collision with the bridge was possible,” CISA, the federal agency, said in its memo. “The vessel struck the bridge causing a complete collapse.”
There were 24 people on the ship: two pilots who are local mariners and 22 crew members from India, said Darrell Wilson, a spokesman for Synergy Marine Group, which manages the ship. He said he didn’t have any details on what caused the ship to crash. Wilson said he had no reports of the ship spilling fuel or oil.
One official said the ship issued a mayday call shortly before it hit the bridge.
The vessel had deployed its own emergency procedure and the crew had been checking for casualties in the water, Synergy said. All of the crew are safe, the company added. Danish container shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk said it had chartered the ship from Synergy.
The ship was on its way to Sri Lanka when it struck the bridge, and it remained stuck there.
Who was on the bridge
Jesus Campos, 48 years old, works for Brawner Builders, a construction company. Campos said his colleagues were repairing potholes on the bridge when the ship struck it. Campos said he wasn’t there at the time, but knows everyone who was on the bridge, including a worker who was rescued from the water. Campos said a colleague called at 5:40 a.m. to tell him the news of the ship striking the bridge.
He added it could have been him on that bridge.
“I felt sick when they showed me the video. It hurts,” Campos said, adding that he and some other co-workers have tried calling the phones of the missing workers, but no one has responded.
The Journal called Brawner seeking comment. A person who answered the phone didn’t immediately provide one. Brawner Builders has several active multimillion-dollar contracts with the state of Maryland, according to state records.
Multiple vehicles were on the bridge at the time of the collapse, Baltimore City Fire Chief James Wallace said. Authorities were using sonar and infrared technology to determine how many cars were in the water
The scene after the collapse
As daylight revealed the scale of the collapse, police closed roads leading up to the bridge while a parade of emergency response vehicles arrived at the scene. Among the vehicles was a truck from the nearby Kingsville Volunteer Fire Company towing two inflatable boats and a pickup truck from the Prince George’s County police emblazoned with the words “underwater recovery.”
The bridge is the entryway to the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore, the largest port in the U.S. for specialized cargo like trucks, tractors and trailers. It is also a gateway for bulk cargo like coal and petroleum products.
The bridge was last inspected in May 2021 and received a “fair” rating, according to federal data reviewed by The Journal. That means inspectors determined the bridge was essentially sound, but may have minor issues like cracks or some concrete erosion.
Some 800,000 vehicles passed through the port in 2023, moving three million tons of cargo. The collapse will have ripple effects on the port’s operations that could last for months, according to Coast Guard officials.
All vessel traffic in and out of the Port of Baltimore is suspended until further notice, the port said Tuesday morning. The port is still processing trucks inside its terminals, the port said. Ports in Norfolk, Va., and the New York and New Jersey area are expected to pick up most of the diverted ship traffic.
Synergy said the two pilots were on the ship to steer it through the crossing. Pilots are active or former captains who work at ports and take over ships as they move in and out of ports.
“The pilots take over the ship because they know the port’s tight spots like the back of their hands,” said Ioannis Sgouras, a veteran Greek captain who has sailed to Baltimore many times in recent years.
The port administration says Baltimore is the biggest port on the East Coast for handling “ro-ro,” short for roll-on-roll off and encompassing cargoes of autos, trucks, tractors and wheeled cranes. Coal, liquefied-natural gas and waste paper have ranked among the top exports from the port in recent years, while vehicles, salt, gypsum and sugar have been the biggest imports.
Francis Scott Key Bridge, built in 1977, spanned a total of 1.6 miles, but the overall structure including its approaches covered almost 11 miles.
Alyssa Lukpat, Sabrina Siddiqui, C. Ryan Barber, Cameron McWhirter, Margot Patrick, Joe Wallace, Jack Gillum and Siobhan Hughes contributed to this article.
Write to Costas Paris at
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