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22 March 2024
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Baltimore bridge collapses as powerless cargo ship rams support column; six presumed dead, US
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On 26 March 2024 at 01h28am, the main spans of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, across the Patapsco River between Baltimore and Dundalk in the US state of Maryland, collapsed after the container ship Dali struck one of its support pillars. NOAA reported a water temperature of eight degrees Celsius at the time of the collapse. Emergency teams began receiving 911 calls at 01h30am. The Baltimore Police Department was alerted to the collapse at 01h35am. Large-scale rescue and recovery efforts were initiated. The United States Coast Guard deployed boats and a helicopter as part of rescue efforts. Public safety divers were also dispatched to search for people who fell into the river. A total of 50 divers divided into eight teams were deployed in rescue efforts.
Two people were rescued from the river, one of whom was in "very serious" condition, while the other person was said to have walked off with no injuries.
One of those rescued was a Mexican national. Six people, all part of the construction crew working on the bridge, were reported missing and are presumed dead following the suspension of a US Coast Guard search effort. One of them was identified as a Honduran national; two were from Guatemala and the others were from El Salvador and Mexico.
At least five submerged vehicles, including three passenger vehicles and a cement truck, were detected using sonar.
Emergency services also used drones and infrared technology in search efforts. The bodies of two of the construction crew have been recovered from inside a pickup truck, 35-year-old Alejandro Fuentes of Mexico and 26-year-old Dorlian Cabrera of Guatemala. 38-year-old Maynor Sandoval of Honduras and 49-year-old Miguel Luna of El Salvador have been identified as among the missing.
The ship's crew, including her two pilots, were accounted for and did not sustain any injuries.
“It looked like something out of an action movie,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said, calling it “an unthinkable tragedy.”
A police dispatcher put out a call just before the collapse saying a ship had lost its steering and asked officers to stop all traffic on the bridge, according to Maryland Transportation Authority first responder radio traffic obtained from the Broadcastify.com archive.
One officer who stopped traffic radioed that he was going to drive onto the bridge to alert the construction crew. But seconds later, a frantic officer said: “The whole bridge just fell down. Start, start whoever, everybody … the whole bridge just collapsed.”
On a separate radio channel for maintenance and construction workers, someone said officers were stopping traffic because a ship had lost steering. There was no follow-up order to evacuate, and 30 seconds later the bridge fell and the channel went silent.
Collapse
The ship, the MV Dali, a Singapore-flagged container ship operated by Synergy Marine Group and owned by a Greek shipping company, left the Port of Baltimore at 12h44am EDT (04:44 UTC) on 26 March 2024, bound for Colombo, Sri Lanka, carrying 3 000 containers.
Two local maritime pilots were piloting the ship. At 01h26am the ship suffered a "complete blackout" and began to drift out of the shipping channel (a backup generator did not power the propulsion system). The ship dropped its anchors as part of its emergency procedures. At about 01h26am, a mayday call was made from the ship, notifying the Maryland Department of Transportation that control of the vessel had been lost and that a collision with the bridge was possible, citing loss of propulsion. One of the pilots requested that traffic be stopped from crossing the bridge immediately.
The ship's lights went out and came on again some moments later; the lights then went off again and powered back on immediately before impact as renewed smoke spewed from its funnel. Following the pilot's request, Maryland Transportation Authority Police dispatch requested officers to stop traffic in both directions at 1:27:53 a.m. Northbound traffic was stopped at the south side after 20 seconds. Southbound traffic was stopped at the north side at 1:28:58 a.m., with less than 30 seconds before collapse.
At 01h28am, the ship struck a support column of the bridge, beneath its metal truss and at the south-west end of its largest span, at eight knots (15 km/h). AIS data shows the ship traveling at a speed of 8,7 knots (16.1 km/h) at 01h25am before departing the channel and slowing to 6,8 knots (12.6 km/h) by the time of the collision two minutes later.
Within seconds of the collision, the bridge broke apart in several places, leaving sections protruding from the water and the roadway's approaches cut off. The main span fell onto the ship's bow and a section of it came to rest there. The bridge strike and partial collapse were recorded on video.
Multiple vehicles were on the bridge at the time it collapsed, though no one was believed to be inside them. Paul Wiedefeld, the Maryland Secretary of Transportation, said that workers were repairing potholes on the bridge at the time of the collapse. A resident living near the bridge recalled being awakened by deep rumbling that shook his residence for several seconds following the collapse, which he said "felt like an earthquake".
Damage
The collision of Dali with the south-western main truss-support pillar destroyed it, bringing down the entire truss span. As a continuous truss bridge that relied on its overall structure to maintain integrity, when the south and central spans (on each side of the impacted pillar) collapsed, the northern component (the third span) soon followed. Each failure sequence took seconds and within 30 seconds the entirety of the central span had fallen into the river. The bridge was determined to be fully compliant with the building code when it collapsed. However, engineers noted that its piers, which are essential to the structure's integrity, did not appear to have protective barriers, such as fenders, to block, deflect or withstand the collision.
After the collision, several shipping containers fell into the water. Dali sustained hull damage above the water line and the ship was impaled by remnants of the bridge superstructure. However, the ship remains watertight and the shipping company claimed there was no water pollution directly from the ship following the incident. Despite the claim, on March 27 the NTSB announced that they are investigating a hazmat spill coming from breached containers onboard Dali, including containers carrying corrosive and flammable materials and lithium batteries.
Aftermath
The incident blocked maritime access to the Port of Baltimore and trapped several vessels inside the harbour.
US Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg contacted Maryland Governor Wes Moore and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott to offer his department's support. Moore declared a state of emergency shortly thereafter and Wiedefeld ordered the suspension of all shipping to and from the Port of Baltimore until further notice (trucking facilities remained operational).
At 04h09am, the Federal Aviation Administration announced a temporary flight restriction around the area of the bridge collapse, effective from 04h15am, including drones.
President Joe Biden was also briefed on the disaster. In an address later that day, Biden said that he would ask Congress to fund the bridge's reconstruction.
Maersk, which chartered the vessel, saw its shares decline by about 2% when trading opened at Nasdaq Copenhagen on March 26. Maersk paused all service to Baltimore indefinitely.
Rafael Laveaga, Mexico's consul in Maryland, visited Baltimore to meet with the families of the Mexican victims. He confirmed that one of the rescued victims was from Michoacán, while the other two, who are still missing, are from Michoacán and Veracruz, respectively. The Mexican Embassy in the US is providing consular assistance to the families, with a dedicated phone line for affected Mexican nationals.
On March 27, Governor Moore and President Biden thanked Dali's crew for transmitting the mayday call warning of the ship's power failure and the impending collision.
What impact could this have?
The collapse will almost surely create a logistical nightmare for months, if not years, in the region, shutting down ship traffic at the Port of Baltimore, a major shipping hub. The accident will also snarl cargo and commuter traffic.
The port is a major East Coast hub for shipping. The bridge spans the Patapsco River, which massive cargo ships use to reach the Chesapeake Bay and then the Atlantic Ocean.
From 1960 to 2015, there were 35 major bridge collapses worldwide due to ship or barge collisions, according to the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure.
Sources: Baltimore Fire Service, Associated Press, The New York Times, Al Jazeera, CBS News and various other media agencies
Two people were rescued from the river, one of whom was in "very serious" condition, while the other person was said to have walked off with no injuries.
One of those rescued was a Mexican national. Six people, all part of the construction crew working on the bridge, were reported missing and are presumed dead following the suspension of a US Coast Guard search effort. One of them was identified as a Honduran national; two were from Guatemala and the others were from El Salvador and Mexico.
At least five submerged vehicles, including three passenger vehicles and a cement truck, were detected using sonar.
Emergency services also used drones and infrared technology in search efforts. The bodies of two of the construction crew have been recovered from inside a pickup truck, 35-year-old Alejandro Fuentes of Mexico and 26-year-old Dorlian Cabrera of Guatemala. 38-year-old Maynor Sandoval of Honduras and 49-year-old Miguel Luna of El Salvador have been identified as among the missing.
The ship's crew, including her two pilots, were accounted for and did not sustain any injuries.
“It looked like something out of an action movie,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said, calling it “an unthinkable tragedy.”
A police dispatcher put out a call just before the collapse saying a ship had lost its steering and asked officers to stop all traffic on the bridge, according to Maryland Transportation Authority first responder radio traffic obtained from the Broadcastify.com archive.
One officer who stopped traffic radioed that he was going to drive onto the bridge to alert the construction crew. But seconds later, a frantic officer said: “The whole bridge just fell down. Start, start whoever, everybody … the whole bridge just collapsed.”
On a separate radio channel for maintenance and construction workers, someone said officers were stopping traffic because a ship had lost steering. There was no follow-up order to evacuate, and 30 seconds later the bridge fell and the channel went silent.
Collapse
The ship, the MV Dali, a Singapore-flagged container ship operated by Synergy Marine Group and owned by a Greek shipping company, left the Port of Baltimore at 12h44am EDT (04:44 UTC) on 26 March 2024, bound for Colombo, Sri Lanka, carrying 3 000 containers.
Two local maritime pilots were piloting the ship. At 01h26am the ship suffered a "complete blackout" and began to drift out of the shipping channel (a backup generator did not power the propulsion system). The ship dropped its anchors as part of its emergency procedures. At about 01h26am, a mayday call was made from the ship, notifying the Maryland Department of Transportation that control of the vessel had been lost and that a collision with the bridge was possible, citing loss of propulsion. One of the pilots requested that traffic be stopped from crossing the bridge immediately.
The ship's lights went out and came on again some moments later; the lights then went off again and powered back on immediately before impact as renewed smoke spewed from its funnel. Following the pilot's request, Maryland Transportation Authority Police dispatch requested officers to stop traffic in both directions at 1:27:53 a.m. Northbound traffic was stopped at the south side after 20 seconds. Southbound traffic was stopped at the north side at 1:28:58 a.m., with less than 30 seconds before collapse.
At 01h28am, the ship struck a support column of the bridge, beneath its metal truss and at the south-west end of its largest span, at eight knots (15 km/h). AIS data shows the ship traveling at a speed of 8,7 knots (16.1 km/h) at 01h25am before departing the channel and slowing to 6,8 knots (12.6 km/h) by the time of the collision two minutes later.
Within seconds of the collision, the bridge broke apart in several places, leaving sections protruding from the water and the roadway's approaches cut off. The main span fell onto the ship's bow and a section of it came to rest there. The bridge strike and partial collapse were recorded on video.
Multiple vehicles were on the bridge at the time it collapsed, though no one was believed to be inside them. Paul Wiedefeld, the Maryland Secretary of Transportation, said that workers were repairing potholes on the bridge at the time of the collapse. A resident living near the bridge recalled being awakened by deep rumbling that shook his residence for several seconds following the collapse, which he said "felt like an earthquake".
Damage
The collision of Dali with the south-western main truss-support pillar destroyed it, bringing down the entire truss span. As a continuous truss bridge that relied on its overall structure to maintain integrity, when the south and central spans (on each side of the impacted pillar) collapsed, the northern component (the third span) soon followed. Each failure sequence took seconds and within 30 seconds the entirety of the central span had fallen into the river. The bridge was determined to be fully compliant with the building code when it collapsed. However, engineers noted that its piers, which are essential to the structure's integrity, did not appear to have protective barriers, such as fenders, to block, deflect or withstand the collision.
After the collision, several shipping containers fell into the water. Dali sustained hull damage above the water line and the ship was impaled by remnants of the bridge superstructure. However, the ship remains watertight and the shipping company claimed there was no water pollution directly from the ship following the incident. Despite the claim, on March 27 the NTSB announced that they are investigating a hazmat spill coming from breached containers onboard Dali, including containers carrying corrosive and flammable materials and lithium batteries.
Aftermath
The incident blocked maritime access to the Port of Baltimore and trapped several vessels inside the harbour.
US Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg contacted Maryland Governor Wes Moore and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott to offer his department's support. Moore declared a state of emergency shortly thereafter and Wiedefeld ordered the suspension of all shipping to and from the Port of Baltimore until further notice (trucking facilities remained operational).
At 04h09am, the Federal Aviation Administration announced a temporary flight restriction around the area of the bridge collapse, effective from 04h15am, including drones.
President Joe Biden was also briefed on the disaster. In an address later that day, Biden said that he would ask Congress to fund the bridge's reconstruction.
Maersk, which chartered the vessel, saw its shares decline by about 2% when trading opened at Nasdaq Copenhagen on March 26. Maersk paused all service to Baltimore indefinitely.
Rafael Laveaga, Mexico's consul in Maryland, visited Baltimore to meet with the families of the Mexican victims. He confirmed that one of the rescued victims was from Michoacán, while the other two, who are still missing, are from Michoacán and Veracruz, respectively. The Mexican Embassy in the US is providing consular assistance to the families, with a dedicated phone line for affected Mexican nationals.
On March 27, Governor Moore and President Biden thanked Dali's crew for transmitting the mayday call warning of the ship's power failure and the impending collision.
What impact could this have?
The collapse will almost surely create a logistical nightmare for months, if not years, in the region, shutting down ship traffic at the Port of Baltimore, a major shipping hub. The accident will also snarl cargo and commuter traffic.
The port is a major East Coast hub for shipping. The bridge spans the Patapsco River, which massive cargo ships use to reach the Chesapeake Bay and then the Atlantic Ocean.
From 1960 to 2015, there were 35 major bridge collapses worldwide due to ship or barge collisions, according to the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure.
Sources: Baltimore Fire Service, Associated Press, The New York Times, Al Jazeera, CBS News and various other media agencies
