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Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and other officials speak at a news conference about the early-morning collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge on March 26, 2024. (Jack Hogan/The Daily Record)
Ship sent out mayday before colliding with Baltimore’s Key Bridge, officials say
Listen to this articleDUNDALK — A container ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge overnight issued a mayday that allowed officials to stop traffic and prevent additional vehicles from driving onto the structure, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said Tuesday morning.
The crew indicated that they had lost power on the 300-meter cargo vessel before it crashed into a support column beneath the bridge at a speed of 8 knots, officials said.
Six construction workers who were working on the bridge remain unaccounted for, Moore said. Two people were rescued and one is hospitalized.
It is not clear whether vehicles were on the bridge at the time of the collapse. Between the ship’s mayday call and the bridge collapse, officials were able to stop the flow of traffic onto the bridge and prevent more vehicles from driving onto the structure, officials said.
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The U.S. Coast Guard is still actively searching using response boat crews from two local stations, a helicopter crew and a cutter crew.
“Our exclusive focus is on saving lives,” Moore said.
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William J. DelBagno, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office, said there is “no specific or credible information to suggest that there are ties to terrorism in this incident.”
Moore said the bridge was “fully up to code” before the crash. The governor also met with workers who were on site during the accident before Tuesday’s news briefing.
Engineers are at the site of the collapse assessing structural issues and the size of the debris field, Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul J. Wiedefeld said. The construction crew that was on the bridge at the time of the collapse was repairing potholes, not working on structural issues with the bridge, he said.
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The loss of the bridge will snarl traffic and shipping in Maryland for the foreseeable future. More than 30,000 people use the bridge per day, Moore said. He did not offer a timeline for when shipping out of the Port of Baltimore will be able to resume.
Local, state and federal officials swarmed the bridge Tuesday morning ahead of what is expected to be a major rebuilding effort. Moore said the task will involve “everyone.”
“We are going to get this done,” Moore said.
