The ship that demolished the Baltimore bridge (Maryland, USA) was transporting 56 containers with hazardous chemical materials and some of them fell into the water after the impact, the researchers explained this Wednesday.

The authorities estimate that in the containers there are 764 tons of corrosive and flammable materialssuch as lithium-ion batteries, Jennifer Homendy, president of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB, in English), detailed in a press conference.

He added that some of the containers broke due to the crash and that shine was found in the river waters. According to Homendy, the area right now is “dangerous” due to the amount of debris and the bad weather, which makes diving impossible so that the teams can verify the status of the containers that fell into the water.

The freighter Dali remains at the scene of the accident, where it collided early Tuesday against the Francis Scott Key Bridge, near the port of Baltimore, causing it to collapse. The researchers also cThey concluded that there were 23 people on board the freighter, two of them pilots of the ship who will be interviewed in the coming days.

Authorities also revealed a timeline of events according to which the ship left the port of Baltimore at 12:39 local time and Several alarms sounded on the ship at 1:24.

The pilot issued a first warning to the tugboats in the area at 1:26 and at 1:27 he dropped anchor and warned by radio that they were going to hit the bridge, something that happened at 1:29. Homendy predicted the investigation into the crash and bridge collapse will take between one and two years.

“We have an incredible team of people who They focus on very specific areas of expertiseso I have no doubt that we will be able to achieve this together in 12 to 24 months,” he said.

The rescue teams paused this Wednesday until further notice. search work for the deceased after finding the bodies of two of the six construction workers who died in the collapse.