A massive freight ship loaded high with containers collided with a bridge as it sailed out of Baltimore, plunging cars and people into the river below and closing one of the busiest ports on the US Eastern Seaboard.
According to reports, rescuers took out two survivors, one of whom was hospitalized, and were looking for more in the Patapsco River when the massive metal arches of the 1.6-mile (2.57 km) Francis Scott Key Bridge crumpled into the freezing water.
The ship reported a power outage, and officials halted traffic on the bridge between the Mayday call and the crash, Maryland Governor Wes Moore stated during a briefing.
Eight people were on the bridge at the time, and six were still missing, according to the state’s transportation secretary, hours after the crash that shut down one of the country’s busiest ports.
According to the Singapore Port Authority, the 948-foot (288.95 m) vessel, which is as long as three football pitches when laid end to end, experienced a brief loss of propulsion and lowered anchors as part of emergency measures prior to collision.
The Dali, which is owned by Grace Ocean Pte Ltd, crashed with one of the bridge’s supports, according to manager Synergy. The Singapore-flagged vessel’s 22 crew members were all found safe, according to the statement.
The US Coast Guard reported the collapse at 1:27 a.m. (0627 GMT) and it deployed crews for an active search and rescue mission after the Singapore-flagged container ship forced the trellis-like bridge up into a mangled mass of metal.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge was the main thoroughfare for drivers between New York and Washington who sought to avoid downtown Baltimore. It was one of three ways to cross the Baltimore Harbor, with a traffic volume of 31,000 cars per day or 11.3 million vehicles a year.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott described a scene of twisted metal shooting into the sky. “It was something out of an action movie. It was something you never thought you’d see,” he said.
Report says the same ship was involved in an accident in the port of Antwerp, Belgium, in 2016, when it hit a quay as it tried to exit the North Sea container terminal.
Tuesday’s disaster may be the worst US bridge collapse since 2007 when the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing 13.
Baltimore Port’s private and public terminals handled 847,158 autos and light trucks in 2023, the most of any US port. The port also handles farm and construction machinery, sugar, gypsum, and coal, according to a Maryland government website.
The bridge, named after Francis Scott Key, author of the Star Spangled Banner, opened in 1977.
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