Mayor says rescue efforts are under way after vessel crashed into Francis Scott Key Bridge, sending vehicles into water

A portion of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore has collapsed after a large boat collided with it early on Tuesday morning, sending multiple vehicles into the water.

At about 1.30am, a vessel crashed into the bridge, catching fire before sinking and causing multiple vehicles to fall into the water below, according to a video posted on X.

“All lanes closed both directions for incident on I-695 Key Bridge. Traffic is being detoured,” the Maryland Transportation Authority posted on X.

Matthew West, a petty officer first class for the coastguard in Baltimore, told the New York Times that the coastguard received a report of an impact at 1.27am ET. West said the Dali, a 948ft (29 metres) Singapore-flagged cargo ship, had hit the bridge, which is part of Interstate 695.

  • Gestrid@lemmy.caEnglish
    72·
    8 months ago

    I’m just glad it happened in the dead of night and that the ship sent a mayday several minutes before it happened. State Police were apparently able to close the bridge and clear most of the traffic (it’s 1.6 miles/ 2.6 kilometers long) off of it before it collapsed. It’s sad that there were still construction workers and some cars still left on it, though.

    • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.caEnglish
      15·
      8 months ago

      Crazy. Even with the mayday I’m amazed they could get police in position fast enough.

    • PutangInaMo@lemmy.world
      21·
      8 months ago

      I’m so confused why a mayday wasn’t sent out earlier though. Like they had to have known collision was imminent.

      And weren’t there local authorities on board that were guiding them through the waterway?

      • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
        31·
        8 months ago

        They lost power, dropped anchor, and called a mayday. By the sound of it the pilot probably did everything perfect. But whatever caused the power loss and engine failure is gonna be looked at very closely.

        I think new procedures for having tugs hooked up until ships are entirely clear of port may be on their way - even if they’re mostly just escorts unless the ship’s engines fail.

        There’s gonna be a lot of pointing fingers and yelling, but hopefully in the end things will be safer than they are today. From the sound of it we got really lucky on the “lives lost” side of things.

      • Dasus@lemmy.world
        31·
        8 months ago

        I’m so confused why a mayday wasn’t sent out earlier though. Like they had to have known collision was imminent.

        Prolly something like:

        “Aww nah, theres no need m8, I’m sure we’ll figure something out”

        I’ve heard the same thing with another issue

        https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/effects/

    • ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml
      1·
      8 months ago

      It’s sad that there were still construction workers and some cars still left on it, though.

      Hopefully police told the people to evacuate their vehicles

      • Gestrid@lemmy.caEnglish
        9·
        8 months ago

        Unfortunately, it would’ve simply been faster for them to drive to either end of the bridge. The Maryland Department of Transportation had already closed the bridge. The only traffic left on the bridge was the traffic that got through before the closure, but everything happened so fast I don’t think they had time to get off the bridge.

        One article I read said that the mayday call, the bridge closure, the collision, and the collapse all happened in the span of about two minutes.