Baltimore Key Bridge collapse latest news: Biden to visit city next week as crews clear wreckage

There was no indication in the water of active releases from the ship of materials hazardous to human health, according to Adam Ortiz, the Environmental Protection Agency’s mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator.

However, investigators are examining the possible role of “dirty fuel” in the cargo ship collision which destroyed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Maryland governor Wes Moore surveyed the scene of the bridge collapse on Friday and said teams are working to reopen the port and recover bodies as soon as possible.

He said he saw shipping containers ripped apart “like papier-mache”.

The broken pieces of the bridge, including its steel trusses, weigh as much as 4,000 tons.

The wreckage has blocked ships from entering or leaving the vital port and also stymied the search for the missing workers.“We have to bring a sense of closure to these families,” Mr Moore said.

Speaking of the disaster’s severe economic impact, he said: “What we’re talking about today is not just about Maryland’s economy; this is about the nation’s economy.

“The port handles more cars and more farm equipment than any other port in this country.”

Investigators are examining the possible role of “dirty fuel” in the cargo ship collision which destroyed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge.

The Dali collided with the four-lane road bridge at 1.28am on Tuesday as it sailed out of the Maryland harbour.

Minutes before the collision, the propulsion system on board the vessel went down, alarms sounded, and the vessel began veering towards a support for the bridge.

At 1.26am, the captain called for crew to try to restart the engine and steer hard to the left. A minute later, he ordered them to drop anchor, and issued an emergency radio call to transport authorities on the bridge.

However the Dali, 1,000 ft long and 95,000 tons when empty, would have been virtually impossible to stop. It hit the 1.6mile bridge at 1.28am, causing its immediate collapse into the Patapsco River.

Louise Boyle has the full story…

A massive crane has arrived to aid in hauling the shattered remains of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed on Tuesday after it was struck by a cargo ship.

Around seven floating cranes, one of which is described by officials as the largest on the Eastern Seaboard, 10 tugboats, nine barges, eight salvage vessels and five Coast Guard boats are at the site.

The massive crane is capable of lifting 1,000 tons.

Officials said the mammoth task of cleaning up the site to be able to reopen the Port of Baltimore is their top priority.

“To go out there and see it up close, you realise just how daunting a task this is,” governor Wes Moore said on Friday afternoon as the crane loomed behind him.

Maryland Gov Wes Moore laid out four directives:

1) Continue recovery efforts when it is safe.

The governor noted that because of current conditions, it is unsafe for divers to continue searching for the missing people, who have been presumed dead.

A team of divers is on standby, “waiting for the first word that it is safe and it is clear to go in and examine what’s beneath the wreckage and recover any of these individuals that perished in this unfortunate incident,” Col Roland Butler of the Maryland State Police said.

2) Clear the channel and open the vessel traffic to the port.

Four massive cranes are coming in to help lift the wreckage. Two have arrived, one arrives tonight and the fourth is arriving on Monday, Mr Moore said.

“One of the cranes is called the Chesapeake 1000 and it can lift about 1000 tonnes,” but the challenge is that the Key Bridge, which sits on top of the vessel right now, weighs somewhere between 3000 and 4000 tonnes, “so the bridge needs to be cut into sections, he explained.

“We need to clear the channel and open the vessel traffic to the port. Because the health of the Maryland economy and the national economy depend on it,” the governor added.

3) Taking care of those who have been affected by this crisis.

The governor urged legislators to pass a measure “to support the families and the victims of the bridge collapse, and everyone else who has been affected by this emergency.” Mr Moore also said he will “push for legislation that seeks to protect workers like the six victims of the Key Bridge collapse.”

He added that he will be proposing that a permanent state scholarship be created for the children of surviving spouses of workers who lost their lives in the disaster.

4) Rebuilding the bridge.

“We cannot rebuild the bridge until we have cleared the wreckage,” the governor clarified.

Echoing his previous warning, he said at the press conference that the operation will not take days, weeks, or months, and that there is a “long road” ahead.

Two bodies have been recovered from the Patapsco River after the deadly collapse of the bridge, officials announced on Wednesday.

Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Baltimore was one of the men discovered by divers who spotted a submerged red pickup truck in around 25 feet of water.

Fuentes, originally from Mexico, was a construction worker, found trapped inside the vehicle alongside Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera.

The tragic announcement was made at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, held by personnel from the US Coast Guard, the Maryland Department of Transportation and state Governor Wes Moore.

One of the victims was identified by a driver’s license in his pocket, another by a fingerprint, Colonel Roland L Butler, superintendent of the Maryland Department of State Police said.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called it “upsetting” that in the face of tragedy – the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key bridge – conspiracy theories have circulated to explain what caused the disaster that left six people to be presumed dead.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins pointed out there have been “wild conspiracy theories” about what caused the disaster, ranging from a cyberattack, the captain having side effects from a Covid-19 vaccine, and blaming the Obamas.

She asked Mr Buttigieg whether he thought he would have to combat these conspiracy theories in the midst of a crisis?

“We’re in the business of dealing with roads and bridges and sometimes ships and trains,” he said. “So we are not in the habit as a Department of Transportation, of being in the business of dealing with conspiracies, or conspiracy theories or that kind of wild thinking. But unfortunately, it is a fact of life in America today.

“What’s really upsetting is when misinformation or disinformation circulates, that is not without victims.

All members of the crew were accounted for after the crash.

The Dali’s 22-member crew and its two pilots were all safe, Synergy Marine Group said in a statement. One crew member sustained “minor” injuries and has since been treated and discharged from the hospital. The injured crew member returned to the vessel on 27 March, the company said.

Interviews conducted by the NTSB with the two pilots of the Dali container ship are scheduled for Thursday, 28 March.

Jennifer Homendy, NTSB chair, said that an interview with the ship’s captain had taken place on 27 March, along with the mate, chief engineer and one of the other engineers. She added that the container ship currently has power, but is stationary.

“They are not sitting in the dark, but it cannot move,” she said.

The boat’s length overall (LOA) is 299.92 metres and its width is 48.2 metres.

The Dali had just set sail and had only travelled just over four miles from the Seagirt Marine Terminal in the Port of Baltimore before it collided with the west side of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, according to VesselFinder.

It was about to embark on a 27-day journey to Colombo, Sri Lanka, which is roughly 10,220 miles, although it only managed to complete a fraction of its journey – about 30 minutes – before it crashed.

While the vessel “had a fairly good safety record,” Mr Buttigieg noted, the Dali had reportedly been involved in another “incident” back in 2016, port authorities told CNN.

The same ship that struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge was also involved in an incident at the Port of Antwerp in Belgium, the outlet reported.

According to Vessel Finder, the Dali reportedly collided with the side of the stone wall quay as it was leaving the port, and consequently damaged the stern and transom of the vessel.

The incident was reportedly blamed on a mistake by the ship’s master and pilot onboard and there were no injuries.

Separately, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said that the Dali had “passed previous foreign port state inspections,” according to a 27 March statement.

While the vessel passed two separate foreign port inspections in June and September 2023, the agency noted that during June, the ship suffered from a “faulty monitor gauge for fuel pressure,” which was “rectified before the vessel departed the port.”

In June 2023, a port in Chile reported an issue with the fuel heater’s pressure gauges before it was fixed before departing, the Associated Press reported.

The Independent has asked the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore to clarify at which foreign ports the inspections took place.