Six people (part of an eight-man construction crew) are presumed dead when a portion of The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after being the Singapore-flagged Cargo ship “Dali” collided with it. Rescue Efforts have now shifted from search and rescue to recovery.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed early Tuesday morning after a collision with the container ship ‘Dali’. The crash sent vehicles crashing into the waters below, prompting urgent rescue efforts.
The Baltimore Fire Department, leading the response to the unfolding crisis, had pulled at least two people from the river as of midmorning, with one individual in extremely critical condition, officials said.
“This is an unthinkable tragedy,” Mayor Brandon M. Scott said at a news conference near the wreckage. “We must pray for those who were impacted, and for every single one of our first responders on the scene working to address this mass casualty event.”
Witnesses described a jarring scene as the bridge gave way shortly after 9 a.m., severing the key thoroughfare that connects the Brooklyn neighborhood of Baltimore with communities in Anne Arundel County. A cloud of smoke and debris filled the air as cars became submerged in the river’s murky depths.
The cause of the collision between the container ship and the bridge remained under investigation, though authorities said there were no initial indicators of foul play or an intentional act. Still, the accident is likely to renew scrutiny over the safety of the nation’s aging infrastructure.
A Disastrous Hour on Baltimore’s Fateful Bridge
22Transponder Data Showing the Course of ‘The Dali’ as it left port and Proceeded to Collide with the Baltimore Bridge
The calamity that befell the Francis Scott Key Bridge in the predawn hours of March 26 began at 1:27 a.m., when the MV Dali, a container ship sailing under the Singapore flag, suffered a catastrophic power failure while traversing the Patapsco River, according to maritime officials.
Unable to maneuver, the powerless vessel careered into one of the bridge’s main support pillars in a sickening crash that doomed the 47-year-old span’s structural integrity. Within moments, the Dali’s collision triggered the unthinkable – the fracturing and collapse of portions of the bridge into the inky waters below.
What followed was a frantic emergency response as the magnitude of the disaster became clear. Police and fire personnel, utilizing sonar detection to locate submerged vehicles in the river’s murky depths, managed to pull two people from the near-freezing waters, though one remained in extremely critical condition.
At least six other people were unaccounted for in the initial hours and feared dead amid the tangle of mangled bridge steel, scattered cargo containers and debris in a scene of devastated infrastructure along this vital Baltimore artery.
“I need one of you guys on the south side, one of you guys on the north side, hold all traffic on the Key Bridge. There’s a ship approaching that just lost their steering so until we get that under control, we’ve got to stop all traffic,” a worker radioed to colleagues, according to the emergency-radio archiving system Broadcastify. “Just make sure no one’s on the bridge right now.”
The Dali’s crew managed to issue a distress call as the ship foundered. Crucially, authorities credited workers managing bridge traffic for quickly halting vehicles from proceeding onto the doomed spans, preventing further potential loss of life.
As investigations begin into the cause of the ship’s mechanical failure, the disaster is already being studied as a stark example of the need for heightened emergency preparedness – and investment in America’s aging transportation infrastructure.
A Scene of Frantic Rescues and Tragic Losses
“I’d like to announce tonight that based on the length of time that we’ve gone in this search, the extensive search efforts we’ve put into it, the water temperature, that at this point we do not believe that we’re going to find any of these individuals still alive,”
– Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath, Us Coast Guard
The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge proved to be a mass casualty disaster, with at least six people presumed dead amid the tangle of debris and fractured steel in the Patapsco River. Two of the victims were from Guatemala, part of an eight-man crew carrying out maintenance work on the span when it suddenly gave way early Tuesday.
While the urgency of the rescue efforts managed to save two individuals from the near-freezing waters below – one in extremely critical condition – the human toll proved devastating. Excerpts of radio communications captured the frantic attempts to account for personnel and the anguish of realizing lives had been lost.
The mayday distress call from the MV Dali, the shipping vessel that struck the bridge and set the calamity in motion, is now credited with stemming greater casualties. By quickly alerting emergency personnel, that cry for help allowed officials to halt any additional traffic from proceeding across the doomed spans.
As recovery operations continued deep into the night, the loss of life cast a pall over Baltimore. An investigation is only just beginning into how such a vital artery collapsed so disastrously in the pre-dawn hours.
The Dali was Responsible for a Previous Collision
The vessel at the center of this week’s catastrophic bridge collapse in Baltimore, the MV Dali, was no stranger to maritime mishaps. In 2016, the Singapore-flagged container ship was involved in a collision with a shipping pier in the Port of Antwerp, Belgium, as it was departing, according to records from the online vessel tracking site VesselFinder.com.
In that earlier incident, the Dali struck a stone loading pier, or berth, damaging its stern and necessitating repairs before the ship could return to service, the records show. While no injuries were reported from the crash in Antwerp, an investigation cited errors by the Dali’s master and pilot as the cause. The pier sustained serious damage as well and had to be temporarily closed.
The 2016 collision served as an ominous precursor to this week’s disaster in Baltimore, where Dali’s loss of power and subsequent impact with the Francis Scott Key Bridge support pillars set off a chain of calamitous events. While the circumstances differed, the common thread was Dali’s involvement in collisions that disrupted maritime operations and raised questions about marine safety practices.
Historical Significance of The Francis Scott Key Bridge
The Francis Scott Key Bridge, a vital artery along the Baltimore Beltway carrying Interstate 695 across the Patapsco River, is more than just a thoroughfare for traffic flowing in and out of the city. Completed in 1977, the bridge bears the name of Francis Scott Key, the Marylander whose eyewitness account of the bombardment of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812 inspired the lyrics to ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’, the anthem that became a sacred symbol of American perseverance and patriotism.
Economic Impact
The catastrophic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore could have severe and prolonged ramifications for the vital Port of Baltimore operations. As the nation’s leader in imported automobile shipments, an extended closure of the port would likely disrupt a crucial economic sector.
Furthermore, the port is the second highest exporter of coal nationally, suggesting potential impacts on energy supply chains. Underscoring the economic significance, President Joe Biden described the bridge as ‘vital to our economy’, expressing worries over the incident’s effects on traffic flows and employment connected to port activities. The comments highlight how the bridge failure could reverberate through multiple industries and businesses reliant on the critical maritime trade passing through Baltimore’s ports.
Conclusion
The catastrophic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge did not just obliterate a vital Baltimore transportation link – it severed an economic lifeline for the region’s port and scores of businesses dependent on freight and commuter traffic. As rescue efforts transitioned to recovery and investigation, the ramifications of Tuesday’s disaster stretched far beyond the initial tragic loss of life.
At the same time, officials credited the emergency preparedness of the first responders, whose training in maritime incident response likely prevented greater loss of life in those initial, frantic hours. The mayday call from the MV Dali, the container ship that struck the bridge, enabled police to halt approaching traffic within minutes.
As the containment of the emergency transitioned to a focus on accountability and resilience, there is a certainty that a reconstruction process awaits fraught with bureaucratic, logistical, and economic hurdles. But there is also a shared hope that from the ruins of such a traumatic event, a rebuilt Francis Scott Key Bridge could emerge as a model for a new era of modern, fortified infrastructure meeting the needs of 21st-century Baltimore.
