Six missing after bridge collapses in Baltimore due to freighter crash

The collision this Tuesday of a container ship against the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore caused the total collapse of that structure that crosses the Patapsco River and left six missing so far, in whose search federal, state and local agents are involved.

The event took place around 1:30 local time (5:30 GMT). The Dali freighter lost propulsion, according to the first indications, and ended up stuck against the bridge, built in 1977, through which some 35,000 vehicles cross a day and which rose to fame in the past as the setting for the series ‘The Wire’. ‘.

The alert given by the ship itself allowed the entry of vehicles into the area to be stopped and lives were saved, but there were workers on site who were repairing the asphalt: two were injured, one of them seriously, and six others are still missing. .

At first there was talk of 20 people missing, but that figure was lowered shortly after. A helicopter, three coast guard vessels and teams of submariners are participating in the search.

The Secretary of Transportation Maryland, Paul Wiedefeldindicated that the low temperature of the water, its depth, about 15 meters, and the darkness when the event occurred make the work difficult.

The priority is on finding the missing, the mayor of Baltimore, Brandon Scottin one of the many appearances organized throughout the day to offer the latest details about what happened.

It is now known that there are no signs of a terrorist attack. He FBI is involved in the investigation, like every time there are events of this scope, and his special agent Bill Delbagno He stated that there is no information “specific or credible that suggests links to terrorism”.

Everything indicates that it was an accident. The Singaporean company Synergy Groupwhich operates the ship, announced that none of its 22 crew members were injured, while the Danish multinational Maersk confirmed that it had temporarily rented the ship, named Dali, and that it was transporting company cargo.

He dali It has a gross load capacity of 95,000 tons and is 300 meters in length. In 2016, she hit the dock in the port of Antwerp (Belgium), according to data from Vessel Finder.

The port was paralyzed and only the loading and unloading of trucks was allowed. The area is also blocked to traffic and to the press, which can only access about 1.6 kilometers away, from where you can see the blocked ship with its containers and the bridge converted into a tangle of steel.

Local authorities do not yet want to talk about the economic cost of the impact. “A bridge can be rebuilt, our focus is on the people“said the mayor, while the governor of Maryland specified that not only will it be raised again, but it will be done in memory of those affected.

The bridge that collapsed is the largest in the state of Maryland. It has a length of 2,632 meters and is named in honor of the poet Francis Scott Key, author of the lyrics of the American anthem.

Its construction began in 1972, its structure crosses the lower part of the Patapsco River between Hawkins Point and Sollers Point and the I-695 highway runs through it, whose traffic was diverted this Tuesday until further notice.

The governor of Marylandwhich declared a state of emergency in the area, stressed today that the entire state is in “shock.”

Baltimore It is its most populated city, with just over 600,000 inhabitants in the urban core and 2.7 million in its metropolitan area, and its port, located in the Chesapeake Bay, is the most important in the United States for the trade of vehicles and agricultural equipment. .