Baltimore Bridge Destroyed By US Cargo Ship, Six Missing And Two Rescued

Six individuals are unaccounted for, while two have been successfully rescued following the destruction of a Baltimore bridge by a US cargo ship on March 26, 2024.

A container ship lost power and rammed into a major bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday, causing it to snap and plunge into the river below. Several vehicles fell into the chilly waters, and rescuers are searching for survivors, according to the punch.

Six people are reportly missing and two already rescued as search continues throughout the early hours of Wednesday. The collision occurred during the late hours of the night, well before the bustling morning rush hour on the bridge.

Before the crash, the crew had issued a distressed call to the authorities, which enabled them to limit vehicle traffic on the span and also reduced the number of casualty that could have occurred, Maryland’s governor said.. 

The ship struck one of the bridge’s supports, causing the structure to collapse like a toy. The vessel caught fire, and thick, black smoke billowed out of it.

With the ship barreling toward the bridge at “a very, very rapid speed,” authorities had just enough time to stop cars from coming over the bridge, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said.

“These people are heroes,” Moore said. “They saved lives last night.”

The crash happened in the middle of the night, long before the busy morning commute on the bridge that stretches 1.6 miles (2.6 km) and was used by 12 million vehicles last year.

The six people still unaccounted for were part of a construction crew filling potholes on the bridge, said Paul Wiedefeld, the state’s transportation secretary.

A senior executive at the company that employed the construction workers said Tuesday afternoon that they were presumed dead, given the water’s depth and the length of time since the crash, AP gathered.