Following a cargo ship collision early on Tuesday, a significant bridge in Baltimore collapsed, triggering an emergency reaction, according to the Coast Guard and municipal authorities.
The number of individuals on the Francis Scott Key Bridge at the time of the cargo ship’s crash and their fate were not immediately known. The bridge is a section of Interstate 695, which crosses Baltimore Harbor externally.
The Baltimore Police Department was alerted of “a partial bridge collapse with possible workers in the water,” according to Detective Niki Fennoy. She stated that she lacked any more details.
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Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. declared on X that an emergency reaction was in progress. On the platform, Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott stated that he was “en route to the incident at the Key Bridge.”
According to Matthew West, a spokesman for the Coast Guard in Baltimore, the ship that struck the bridge is a cargo vessel named Dali that is 948 feet long. Around 1:30 a.m., according to the ship’s owners, it struck a bridge pillar while flying the Singaporean flag. The owners stated that there were no injuries on board and that every member of the crew, including the two pilots, had been accounted for.
MarineTraffic, a maritime tracking network, states that the Dali departed Baltimore at one in the morning with a destination of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The bridge opened in 1977 and bears the name of Francis Scott Key, the writer of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the national song of the United States.