According to images from video surveillance cameras, a container ship crashed into a pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing a large section of the steel structure to collapse into the Palapsco River.
Several small explosions are also observed following the rapid collapse.
The company that operates the Singapore-flagged ship reported that there were no injuries among crew members. “All crew members, including the two pilots, have been located and no injuries have been reported,” Synergy Marine Group said in a statement on its website.
The cause of the collision is currently unknown, the company added.
Following the collision, an emergency device was triggered at around 1:30 a.m. (05:30 GMT).
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One person was taken to hospital in “very serious condition,” the fire chief reported. Baltimore, James Wallace and another were uninjured. “We may be looking for up to seven people,” he said.
It was “an unimaginable tragedy,” said the city’s mayor on Tuesday.
“We have to think about the families and people affected, the people we need to find, and that’s what we’re focused on right now,” Brandon Scott added at a news conference.
Emergency services who searched the site found signs of the presence of several vehicles submerged in the water, the city’s fire chief, James Wallace, reported, without providing further details on the number.
In any case, there is “no evidence that terrorism is present, that this was done intentionally,” explained the police commissioner BaltimoreRichard Worley.
The footage shows black smoke rising from the ship’s chimney.
“Sound of thunder.”
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has declared a state of emergency and is trying to “quickly deploy federal resources” from President Joe Biden’s administration, as posted on the social network X.
Divers search for survivors in the water, but low temperatures complicate rescue efforts and reduce the chances of survival.
Photos of the construction site show remnants of the bridge on the deck of the ship, where several containers were stacked.
A man who claims to have worked as a firefighter Baltimore He could see the bridge from his bedroom window.
“We were woken up by what looked like an earthquake and a long, pulsating sound of thunder,” he told local media.
“Pray for those affected.”
“Pray for those affected,” demanded the district leader BaltimoreJohnny Olszewski Jr., in X
The 2.6 km long, four-lane bridge crosses the Patapsco River southwest Baltimorean industrial and port city on the American Atlantic coast.
It was inaugurated in 1977 and more than 11 million vehicles pass through it annually, about 31,000 per day.
The Maryland Transportation Authority urged motorists to avoid the area, which is part of Interstate I-695, because it was an “active scene.”
According to maritime transportation website MarineTraffic, a Singapore-flagged container ship named Dali stopped under the bridge early Tuesday.
Records show the ship was underway Baltimore to Colombo in Sri Lanka.
The cause of the collision has “not yet been clarified,” reported officials from the Singapore-flagged ship “Dali.”
“All crew members, including the two pilots, have been located and there are no reports of injuries,” Synergy Marine Group said in a statement posted on its website.
United States Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said on social networks that he was in contact with the mayor of America Baltimore and the governor of Maryland, and who has offered federal aid.
Baltimore According to the city’s Port Authority, it is one of the busiest cargo ports in the United States, handling billions of dollars’ worth of vehicles, containers, forest products and cargo.
SPRING: AFP.