No hope to rescue six missing men as search suspended after Baltimore Bridge crash
Hope has perished to find survivors after the 1.6-mile long Francis Scott Key Bridge crashed in pieces into the Patapsco River.
More than 24 hours have passed since a 289metre-long cargo ship, headed to Sri Lanka, collided with the construction in Baltimore, Maryland.
Six people are missing and now presumed dead after the catastrophe in the early hours of Tuesday morning, which saw an unknown number of vehicles plunged in the murky water.
Emergency services were deployed to the scene; helicopters were circling over the stretch of the river after one of the biggest bridge incidents in almost 50 years.
Only two people were pulled out from the Patapsco River, with one hospitalised in a ‘very serious condition’.
Those missing were reported to be construction workers who were on the bridge fixing potholes, and identification is still ongoing.
Search divers are expected to return near dawn today to the waters surrounding the twisted metal ruins, where the Singapore-flagged container vessel Dali is still lodged.
State police colonel Roland Butler told reporters late on Tuesday that this is now a recovery operation to retrieve the bodies of the victims of the disaster.
Coast Guard rear admiral Shannon Gilreath added during the briefing: ‘Based on the length of time that we’ve gone in this search the extensive search efforts that have gone into it, the water temperature, at this point we do not believe we are going to find these individuals alive.
‘The coast guard’s not going away, none of our partners are going away, but we are just going to transition into a different phase.’
Maryland governor Wes Moore said with the ship barrelling towards the bridge at ‘a very, very rapid speed’, authorities had just enough time to stop more cars from coming over the bridge.
He said: ‘These people are heroes. They saved lives last night.’
The collapse happened mere seconds after the collision, but long before the busy morning commute in what one official called a ‘developing mass casualty event’.
Brandon Scott, mayor of Baltimore, said: ‘Never would you think that you would see, physically see, the Key Bridge tumble down like that.’
This is a developing news story, more to follow soon… Check back shortly for further updates.
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