A major bridge in the city of Baltimore has entirely collapsed into the Patapsco River this morning after being hit by a container ship, sending several vehicles into the water.
The Singapore-flagged vessel ‘Dali’ collided with the 1.6 mile long Francis Scott Key Bridge at at around 1.30am local time (5.30am UK time) today and at least 20 people are currently understood to have plunged into into the river with their vehicles.
The 300m long container vessel was only 45 minutes into its journey from Baltimore to Sri Lanka when it collided with one of the bridge’s columns. The bridge, which forms part of a major highway that orbits the city, collapsed into the river instantly.
Governor of Maryland has called a state of emergency and a multi-agency rescue operation is currently underway. The Baltimore Fire Department has described the incident as a ‘mass casualty event’.
The ship lost power and steering, but the crew managed to notify authorities of the potential disaster and further traffic entering the bridge was stopped just before the collision, which is believed to have saved many lives.
CCTV captured the disastrous moment the bridge collapsed, as shown below. Our thoughts are very much with everybody involved and we hope for a successful rescue operation.
