LIVE: Baltimore bridge collapses into river after being hit by cargo ship

[Social Media]

 

Baltimore bridge collapses with rescue operation under way. A key bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, has collapsed into a river after being struck by a container ship, rescue services say. A Baltimore City Fire Department spokesman says the bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River after being hit by a vessel in the early hours of this morning.

 

There is now a multi-agency rescue operation on the scene. It is not currently clear if there have been any casualties. We will bring you the latest updates shortly. 

 

At around 01:30am local time (05:30 GMT), a 911 caller reported an incident in the Francis Scott Key Bridge area. Chief Kevin Cartwright, director of communications for the Baltimore City Fire Department confirmed to us that the bridge had been struck by "a large vessel" causing it to collapse into the Patapsco River.

 

He also told us that "as many as seven individuals and several vehicles" have fallen into the river. There is now an ongoing multi-agency rescue operation being led by the fire department, collaborating with the US Coastguard and other Maryland agencies.

 

 

26.03.24

Live Coverage Source from BBC

 

[Berkshire]

7 minutes ago, Social Media said:

He also told us that "as many as seven individuals and several vehicles" have fallen into the river.

Amazed so few vehicles on the bridge.  I can't imagine driving across a bridge and having that happen....Lordy. 

[beautifulthailand99]

This is terrible, they are saying mass casualty now. I'm no engineering expert but surely this shouldn't happen in this way, is this a tragic example of the US's crumbling infrastructure ?

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/03/26/baltimore-bridge-maryland-ship-collapse-latest-news/

[terryq]

Amazing how fast the whole bridge went down.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68663488

 

 

[beautifulthailand99]

 

[herfiehandbag]

Tugs when manoeuvring such vessels around and under bridges.

 

Yes, employing a couple of tugs would have added to costs, but a damn site cheaper than a new bridge!

 

[connda]

[tgw]

2 hours ago, terryq said:

Amazing how fast the whole bridge went down.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68663488

 

to be expected.

modern bridges are constructs that rely on tension and anchors, take one away and the whole thing collapses.

[metisdead]

An off topic deflection post has been removed.

[transam]

2 hours ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

This is terrible, they are saying mass casualty now. I'm no engineering expert but surely this shouldn't happen in this way, is this a tragic example of the US's crumbling infrastructure ?

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/03/26/baltimore-bridge-maryland-ship-collapse-latest-news/

Right on cue, with a daft anti-USA dig............😬

[Yellowtail]

2 hours ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

This is terrible, they are saying mass casualty now. I'm no engineering expert but surely this shouldn't happen in this way, is this a tragic example of the US's crumbling infrastructure ?

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/03/26/baltimore-bridge-maryland-ship-collapse-latest-news/

Why would you not expect it to happen this way? It didn't fall down, a ship knocked it down. 

[transam]

That will be a huge insurance payout........😱

[Yellowtail]

4 hours ago, Berkshire said:

Amazed so few vehicles on the bridge.  I can't imagine driving across a bridge and having that happen....Lordy. 

It happened at 1:30AM

[McTavish]

2 minutes ago, transam said:

That will be a huge insurance payout........😱

Payday coming for Baltimore lawyers?

 

IMO it was the bridges fault🤠

[Tug]

Horrible accident that’s going to cost!looks like the harbor is plugged killing any ship borne commerce.If you watch closely you can see the ship lose electrical power before the collision then lots of black smoke aft her stern swing to port the electrical power come back up then she hits the bridge.my (guess) is when she lost electrical power the pilot ordered full astern (hence the black smoke aft) causing her stern to swing to port as many vessels do when backing unfortunately her bow swung to starboard striking the column .it should be known soon what exactly happened lots of evidence.my condolences to the families of the obviously lost people truly an expensive tragedy sad 😞 

[Dolf]

2 hours ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

 

Like lego

[beautifulthailand99]

52 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Why would you not expect it to happen this way? It didn't fall down, a ship knocked it down. 

It was the fact that every span collapse as well I would have naïvely though they were stronger and had ways to isolate total collapse.

[freeworld]

1 hour ago, Yellowtail said:

Why would you not expect it to happen this way? It didn't fall down, a ship knocked it down. 

It should have been considered in the design.

 

The piers and foundation should have been secured/protected to prevent the bridge deck from being knocked off the piers

 

Engineering for public works should have high standards of safety and low risk to the public from all eventualities.

 

The vessel is the Dali, a Singapore-flagged container ship.

[James105]

1 hour ago, freeworld said:

It should have been considered in the design.

 

The piers and foundation should have been secured/protected to prevent the bridge deck from being knocked off the piers

 

Engineering for public works should have high standards of safety and low risk to the public from all eventualities.

 

The vessel is the Dali, a Singapore-flagged container ship.

 

It does seem a bit easy to knock out and cause an entire bridge to collapse.  It's going to give all the wrong people ideas for their next terrorist attack as it is a lot easier to commandeer a large boat and steer it into a bridge leg(?) at rush hour than attempt to take over a plane to crash into a building.     

[Chelseafan]

6 hours ago, McTavish said:

Payday coming for Baltimore lawyers?

 

IMO it was the bridges fault🤠

 

Ship will claim brake failure 😛

 

[Tug]

The ships pilot and captain had the foresight to call out mayday and get vessel traffic to get traffic stopped before they could get on the bridge saving many lives kudos to the ships crew and pilot and before everyone starts howling but they hit the bridge ……they obviously had a mechanical failure,when something the size of an aircraft carrier is out of control you are just along for the ride what a mess!!

[Danderman123]

10 hours ago, James105 said:

 

It does seem a bit easy to knock out and cause an entire bridge to collapse.  It's going to give all the wrong people ideas for their next terrorist attack as it is a lot easier to commandeer a large boat and steer it into a bridge leg(?) at rush hour than attempt to take over a plane to crash into a building.     

A large boat being the requirement. Not so easy to operate by a small group.

[Danderman123]

The supply chain is fairly robust. Alternate delivery paths will be used.

 

Instead of delivering materials to NYC to be transported via highway to Virginia, the goods will delivered at ports farther south.

 

Laura Logan gets nuttier every year.

[Yellowtail]

14 hours ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

It was the fact that every span collapse as well I would have naïvely though they were stronger and had ways to isolate total collapse.

Again, it did not collapse, it was knocked down. 

[Yellowtail]

14 hours ago, freeworld said:

It should have been considered in the design.

 

The piers and foundation should have been secured/protected to prevent the bridge deck from being knocked off the piers

 

Engineering for public works should have high standards of safety and low risk to the public from all eventualities.

 

The vessel is the Dali, a Singapore-flagged container ship.

So bridges should be designed such that giant container ships can't knock them down? That's hilarious. 

[freeworld]

1 hour ago, Yellowtail said:

So bridges should be designed such that giant container ships can't knock them down? That's hilarious. 

Hilarious is such a comment made like this.

 

They should have installed protection fenders/barriers around the piers to prevent the vessel impacting the piers at all. This is engineering practice in the US since the 1980's.

 

For eg

PROTECTION CELLS: These structures are meant to deflect ships away from bridge piers. If damaged, they are much cheaper to fix or replace than a bridge.

[illisdean]

Joe Biden recalls riding the train across this bridge on numerous occasions but the problem being which the mentally retarded Biden fails to conceptualize is that this bridge has no train tracks....LOL. 

 

Reminds of the time brilliant Biden mentioned building a railway from the Pacific across the Indian ocean:

"We have plans to build a railroad from the Pacific all the way across the Indian Ocean."

Maybe pot-hole Pete Buttigig from Indiana can get right on that feat of engineering wizardry when he completes the pothole repairs across America.

 

Biden the Gaffe phenom

 

Poor Joe, time for a long term care facility for cognitively challenged adults.

 

[Rimmer]

A couple of troll posts have been removed

[KhunLA]

On 3/26/2024 at 4:09 PM, beautifulthailand99 said:

This is terrible, they are saying mass casualty now. I'm no engineering expert but surely this shouldn't happen in this way, is this a tragic example of the US's crumbling infrastructure ?

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/03/26/baltimore-bridge-maryland-ship-collapse-latest-news/

100% correct ... nuff said

 

[PETERTHEEATER]

5 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

So bridges should be designed such that giant container ships can't knock them down? That's hilarious. 

The inertia and kinetic energy of such a high-tonnage vessel even travelling at (say) walking speed is immense but had substantial buttresses been in place they might have deflected the vessel into demolishing one span only but I doubt it.