A massive cargo ship plowed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge early Tuesday, causing the 1.6-mile structure to crumble like a pile of toothpicks – plunging cars and people into the frigid water below. Six people are presumed dead, a Coast Guard official said at a news conference Tuesday evening.
Here’s what we know about the catastrophe:
Why did the bridge collapse?
Shortly before 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, a Singaporean-flagged container vessel called DALI struck one of the 47-year-old bridge’s pillars, officials said.
The local pilot of the ship did “everything that he could have done” to slow the ship and keep it from drifting toward the bridge, Clay Diamond, executive director and general counsel of the American Pilots Association, told CNN.
“Just minutes before the bridge, there was a total blackout on the ship, meaning that the ship lost engine power and electrical power, it was a complete blackout,” Diamond said.
The pilot then did “everything that he could have done” to both slow the ship down and keep it from drifting to the right, toward the bridge, he added.
The pilot quickly gave a string of orders, calling for a hard rudder to port –- as far left as possible -– and for an anchor to be dropped.
Video of the 95,000 gross ton ship approaching the bridge shows lights on the vessel going off then turning back on – likely due to an emergency generator activating after the initial blackout – but the ship’s engines never got running again, according to Diamond.
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said in a written statement that dropping anchor is part of emergency protocol and confirmed the DALI was not under engine power.
“As a result (of the momentary loss of power), it was unable to maintain the desired heading and collided with the Francis Scott Key bridge,” the statement said, attributing the information to the ship management company, Synergy Marine Pte Ltd.
Footage of the crash also showed the 984-foot long vessel, which had been chartered to carry cargo by Danish shipping giant Maersk, was in the wrong part of the channel as it approached the bridge.
The ship crashed into a pillar toward one side of the bridge instead of crossing under the middle of the bridge, where the clearance is highest.
“If you look at it, it’s off center of where it should be,” Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul J. Wiedefeld told CNN.
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