It's the middle of the night on Tuesday,
March 26th in Baltimore, MD.
A Singapore flat cargo ship called Dolly leaves the Baltimore
Harbor around 1:00 AM local time.
The ship's tracking data shows it's just 20 minutes into
its journey to Sri Lanka when it collides with a
support column sending the Franciscocki Bridge into the Patapsca River.
The bridge was built out of steel and opened in
1977. It was 1.6 miles long and had
185 feet of clearance. The Francis Scott Key Bridge is
primarily an arch bridge and more specifically is a Truss
art.
And the Truss refers to sort of the triangular steel
members that you can see along the arch.
These are one of the strongest self supporting shapes or
structures that you can build.
The bridge is part of Interstate
695, one of the main highways that forms the Beltway
of Baltimore.
According to the Maryland Transportation Authority,
the bridge carried more than
12.4 million passenger vehicles in
2023. According to local authorities,
the bridge was undergoing maintenance that evening,
but it was still open to traffic.
It's around 1:23 AM, according to this time stamp from
this live stream camera,
which captures the cargo ship as it heads towards the
bridge,
1:24 AM, the lights on board the ship appear to
go dark.
The lights turn back on.
1:26 AM, the lights appear to go out again as
the ship approaches the underpass.
The ship's tracking data shows Dolly's track as it approached,
and then it seemed to change directions,
veering slightly to the right before hitting the bridge.
Questions still remain. Why the ship hit the bridge.
According to Maryland Governor Wes Moore,
moments before impact, the vessel issued a mayday call to
the Maryland Department of Transportation telling them the ship had
lost power.
That moment also captured via the ship's tracking data.
1:27 AM, the Maryland Transportation Unit dispatchers call on local
units to stop bridge traffic.
I need one of you guys on the South side,
one of you guys on the north side hold all
traffic on the Key Bridge.
There's a ship approaching has just lost their steering.
A car can still be seen driving overhead.
According to the governor, the Mayday call gave authorities just
enough time to stop traffic from crossing the bridge.
Around 1:28 AM. The live stream shows the cargo ship
collides with one of the bridges support columns.
The whole bridge just fell down.
Start started. Whoever, everybody, the whole bridge just collapsed.
When key parts of the bridge or key members begin
to be compromised,
it then leads to a subsequent compromising of the entire
structure when you have one fall in that main span.
If you look closely at the video,
you'll see parts of the deck on the other side
of the still very much intact support also collapsed.
The preliminary investigation points to an accident.
We haven't seen any credible evidence
of a terrorist attack. According to the Synergy Marine group,
which manages the ship, all crew members,
including two pilots, have been accounted for and there are
no reports of injuries.
The company also says there's no sign of pollution from
the ship.
Authorities say 2 construction workers who were on the bridge
survived,
and the Coast Guard said Tuesday evening that search and
rescue operations are now turning into a recovery operation for
the six that are still missing,
according to ADHS briefing document by ABC News.
Maryland authorities say as of Tuesday,
the ship remains impaled in the bridge and several shipping
containers fell into the water,
and Maryland transportation officials said a review of traffic cameras
confirm no vehicles were transiting the bridge at the time
of the incident.
The NTSB is on site and is starting to investigate
the incident.
The US Coast Guard has closed the waterway into and
out of Baltimore Harbor.