‘Heroes’ scrambled to stop traffic before Baltimore bridge collapsed
Six workers are feared dead after a cargo ship struck a pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
Recovery efforts have resumed over six construction workers who are presumed dead after a cargo ship hit a pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, causing the structure to collapse.
The collision occurred in the early hours of Tuesday after the ship lost its steering capability before it hit a pillar of the US city’s Francis Scott Key Bridge.
Audio from first responders reveals a scramble to halt traffic just before the crash.
The bridge is an important link in the region’s transportation infrastructure, and its collapse is expected to snarl commuter traffic and disrupt a vital shipping port for some time.
Within 90 seconds of a dispatcher’s 12-second warning over the radio on Tuesday, police officers responded that they had managed to stop vehicle traffic over the Baltimore bridge in both directions. One said he was about to drive onto the bridge to alert a construction crew.
But it was too late. Powerless and laden with huge containers, the vessel smashed into a support pillar.
“The whole bridge just fell down,” a frantic officer said. “Start, start whoever, everybody … the whole bridge just collapsed.”
When the container ship Dali slammed into the pillar at around 1.30am on Tuesday (5.30am GMT), it caused a long span of the bridge, a major link in the region’s transport networks, to crumple into the Patapsco River.
