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A container ship rests in front of the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge near dawn in Baltimore, Maryland. Recovery efforts have resumed for design personnel presumed dead after the shipping ship struck a bridge pillar, causing the ship to collapse.
BALTIMORE>> Investigators today began gathering evidence about the shipment that crashed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge and caused it to collapse, while in the waters below, divers searched through twisted steel for six of the structure’s personnel who darted into the harbor and were feared dead. .
The investigation accelerated as Baltimore’s domain was shaken by the sudden loss of a major transportation link that was part of the road loop that encircles the city. The crisis also closed the city’s important port for the maritime industry.
Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board boarded the ship and planned to retrieve its electronics and documents, NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said.
The company is also recording trip data recovered by the Coast Guard and building a timeline of what led to the crash, which federal and state officials say appears to be an accident.
The ship’s crew issued an emergency call early Tuesday, saying it had lost strength and was running the ship just minutes before hitting one of the deck columns.
At least eight other people jumped into the water. Two were rescued, but the other six, members of a construction crew filling potholes on the bridge, were missing and presumed dead.
The debris confounds the search, according to a Homeland Security memo described to The Associated Press through a law enforcement official. The official is not authorized to discuss the main points of the document or the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said the divers were facing conditions.
“They’re out there, in the dark, where they can literally see about 30cm in front of them. They’re trying to navigate the mutilated metal, and they’re also in a position where other people are now presumed to have lost their lives,” he said today.
Among the missing were others from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, according to diplomats from those countries. There were three Mexicans on deck. One of them was rescued and two are missing, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said.
Capt. Michael Burns Jr. of the Maritime Center for Responsible Energy said getting a shipment into or out of ports with limited wiggle room is “one of the most complicated and technically difficult things we do. “
There are “few things more frightening than a loss of strength in limited waters,” he said. And when a ship loses its propulsion and direction, “then it is at the mercy of wind and current. “
The video showed the ship moving at a speed of about 15 km/h, according to Maryland’s governor, in the direction of the 2. 6-kilometer bridge. Traffic continued to flow along the stretch and some cars seemed to escape in just a few seconds. spare. A twist of fate caused the stretch to break and fall into the water in a matter of seconds.
The last-minute warning of the shipment gave police enough time to stop traffic on the interstate. An officer pulled over on the other side of the tracks and planned to head to the bridge to alert a framing crew as soon as the officer arrived. But he didn’t stand a chance when the helpless ship ran across the deck.
The focus was on Dalí’s container shipping and his past.
Synergy Marine Group, which manages the ship, said the impact occurred while it was under the control of one or more pilots, who are local specialists who help control ships safely in and out of ports.
The ship, which is headed from Baltimore to Sri Lanka, is owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd. , and Danish shipping giant Maersk said it chartered the ship.
The vessel effectively passed inspections by foreign port states in June and September 2023. During the June 2023 inspection, a faulty fuel strain gauge was rectified before the shipment left the port, the Port Authority of Singapore said today.
The shipment was sailing under the Singaporean flag and officials said they would conduct their own investigation in addition to supporting U. S. authorities.
The sudden loss of a major transportation link that surrounds the city and transports 30,000 cars a day, as well as the disruption of a major transportation port, will not only affect thousands of dockworkers and commuters, but also U. S. consumers, who will likely feel the effect of the crisis. Shipping delays.
The Port of Baltimore is a busy hotspot along the East Coast for new cars made in Germany, Mexico, Japan, and the United Kingdom, as well as for coal and farm equipment.
Maritime entry and exit from the port has been suspended indefinitely.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said it’s too early to give a deadline for making the canal, which is about 50 feet (15 meters) deep, transparent. President Joe Biden has said he expects the federal government to pay the full cost of rebuilding the bridge.
From 1960 to 2015, there were 35 major bridge collapses worldwide due to shipments or barge strikes, according to the World Association for Water Transport Infrastructure.
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