First of all, our thoughts are with anybody affected by this awful tragedy, especially those who were working on the Francis Scott Key Bridge and crossing it at the moment a container ship appeared to lose power and collide into the giant structure, sending it collapsing into the Patapsco River below:
BREAKING: Ship collides with Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, causing it to collapse pic.twitter.com/OcOrSjOCRn
— BNO News (@BNONews) March 26, 2024
That footage really does not do justice to how big this bridge is. The Francis Scott Key Bridge is/was one of the largest truss bridges in the world – 1.6 miles long – and facilitated much of the flow of shipping in the port of Baltimore, which is now likely ruined for a while. It sure as hell isn’t going to be fixed overnight.
It is believed that collision was caused by a 300 meter long cargo ship from Singapore called Dali. It recently visited New York and Norfolk prior to Baltimore, after passing through the Panama Canal. If there’s one small mercy, it’s that this awful event occurred at 1.30 am local time, rather than say 12 in the afternoon or 8 at night when the bridge would have been really rammed with vehicles and people. Although that’s obviously no consolation to the victims, though it’s still too early to determine a fatality count.
The entire Francis Scott Key Bridge in #Baltimore is gone.
It was hit by a giant ship overnight Monday into Tuesday and collapsed.
Two videos below.
Video credit to Bobby Gattus.#FrancisScottKeyBridge #KeyBridge https://t.co/RbSdQpiKAT pic.twitter.com/TH3LwSW1PZ
— Grant Smith Ellis (@GrantSmithEllis) March 26, 2024
While the status of people who might have gone into the water with the bridge’s collapse is currently unknown, shipping company Synergy Marine Group have said that nobody on board the container ship was injured. Meanwhile, rescue efforts are underway and the BBC reports that a team of divers are on the scene and carrying out rescue operations.
For the BMW driver jailed for ramming a cyclist off a bridge in a fit of extreme road rage, click HERE.
