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Key Points
- Rescuers continued to search for the bodies of men presumed killed in the Baltimore bridge collapse.
- The Dali container ship slammed into the bridge, causing it to collapse.
- Authorities said there was no risk of environmental damage from the ship’s containers.
“We do not believe any of these individuals are still alive,” the regional Coast Guard chief, rear-admiral Shannon Gilreath, said.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge rests partially collapsed after a container ship ran into it in Baltimore, Maryland, US, 26 March 2024. Source: AAP / EPA
The container ship Dali, almost a kilometre long and piled high with cargo, was leaving the busy port at 1:30 am Tuesday en route to Asia when power failed and the vessel crashed straight into one of the columns supporting the steel bridge — a major crossing point used by tens of thousands of motorists a day.
Gautier insisted the disabled ship’s presence in the harbour did not present an environmental danger, despite the billion and a half gallons of oil and few dozen hazardous material containers on board. Two other containers — of the total 4,700 — were lost overboard, he said.
A Coast Guard cutter passes the container ship Dali, stuck under part of the structure of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Source: AAP / Steve Helber/AP
“There is no threat to the public from the hazardous materials onboard,” he assured.
“We do not know where they are,” Maryland state police officer Roland Butler told US media. “We intend to give it our best effort to help these families find closure.”
Who is missing after the Baltimore bridge collapse?
“They’re human beings and they are my colleagues.”
What happened before the bridge collapsed?
The authority said the ship’s management company, Synergy Marine Pte Ltd, reported the crew “dropped anchors” in a last-ditch, failed attempt to hold it back.
US President Joe Biden called the collapse a “terrible accident,” and pledged to get the port reopened and the bridge rebuilt.