Baltimore: Two of the missing persons were recovered after the bridge collapsed

Two of the six missing were recovered dead on Wednesday (27.3.2024), after its spectacular collapse in when it fell on a pillar of the giant container ship. “A little after 10:00, divers spotted a red van at a depth of about 7.6 meters,” he explained during an interview Press the Maryland police, the state where Baltimore belongs. “ Two victims of the tragedy were trapped inside the vehicle. ” The recovered bodies were identified: these are two men 35 and 26 years old, members of a road crew, repairing the Francis Scott Key bridge pavement when the accident occurred. The bodies of the other four of their colleagues, which were made clear yesterday by the authorities that they were now considered dead, have not yet been identified, the authorities added. Due to the amount of concrete and debris at the site where the accident occurred, divers “no longer have the ability to move safely” towards “what we think are the vehicles trapped,” said Roland Butler of the Maryland Police Department. It will therefore be necessary first to remove part of the bridge which prevents, in order to allow safe access to divers, clarification. The victims were repairing the 2.6 km long bridge road when large parts of it collapsed into the Patapsko River around 01:30 (local time); 07:30 Greek time) the day before Tuesday, according to the authorities. JUST IN: Baltimore port worker slams the Dali cargo ship had a “severe electrical problem” just days before it was crushed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Container Royalty co-administrator Julie Mitchell said the ship was having issues 48 hours before the crash. “Those two… — Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) Authorities had warned from the day before that they no longer considered that they would “find these people in life”. Two crew members were able to be rescued immediately after the accident. The workers missing were mostly nationals of Mexico and Guatemala. The cargo container ship Dali, flying the flag of Singapore, departed the port bound for Asia when it collided frontally with a pillar of the bridge. The bridge, used daily by tens of thousands of vehicles, collapsed like a deck of cards — part of it ended up on the ship’s deck. “Not designed to withstand” such a collision The huge truck, 300 meters long, was “fixed”, confirmed yesterday by Peter Gotier, an officer of the U.S. Coast Guard, adding that the ship does not raise any danger to the environment or to the residents, although in its holds there are 5.6 billion litres of diesel fuel and on deck some containers with dangerous materials. Two containers, out of a total of 4,700, fell into the water. The victims’ account could be much heavier if the ship’s crew, which lost control of the engine and navigation systems for some time due to power failure, had not broadcast a distress signal. His warning allowed authorities to close in extremes part of the road bridge. The evidence of the investigation so far indicates that it was an accident, according to the US authorities. According to Transport Minister Pete Buttitz, “this type of bridge (…) is not designed to withstand frontal conflict with critical support pillar”. Impressive images from closed surveillance circuits show the container ship diverging from its course and falling into a pillar of the bridge, launched in 1977, causing its collapse. The crew made a desperate attempt to slow the ship down by dropping the anchor. Jennifer Homedy, president of the federal transport security agency (NTSB), said a team recovered the ship’s data recorders critical to the investigation. ‘The cost of reconstruction’ The American president pledged that “the federal state would pay the total cost of rebuilding” the bridge, bearing the name of the American national anthem songwriter. Joe Biden admitted, however, that it would take some time to complete the project. “We will stand alongside the citizens of Baltimore for as long as it takes,” he assured last night via X (the former Twitter). The stake is primarily economic: the four lane bridge with a length of 2.6 km is part of a north-south road axis critical to the economy of the eastern coast of the US. At present, sea transport in the port of Baltimore has been “suspended until further notice”, according to the authorities. It is the ninth largest in the country based on activity and over 15,000 people work in it. The Dali ship, 300 metres long and 48 wide, belongs to Grace Ocean Pt Ltd, managed by Synergy Marine Corp and is chartered by the Danish colossus of Maersk maritime transport. The 22 members of his crew are safe. He had sailed for Sri Lanka. Singapore port authorities announced that they successfully passed two checks in 2023 and that in June an index of a pressure control instrument of fuel that was defective was repaired. The port authorities of Chile also informed in 2023 that Dali had suffered damage to the machinery, a problem that was quickly repaired, according to them.