A cargo ship named Dali, with a Singaporean flag, crashed into a supporting pylon of the Francis Scott Key Bridge (not to be confused with the Key Bridge connecting Rosslyn, VA and the Georgetown district of Washington, DC) in Baltimore, Maryland. The accident happened at around 1:30 a.m., and when I checked the news about two hours ago, reports said that at least seven vehicles had gone into the drink (the Patapsco River). Darkness had been hampering rescue efforts. This is an evolving situation, so watch the news for updates. There are many questions regarding how and why the huge seagoing vessel crashed into the bridge's pylon. Power loss? Drunkenness? Some other factor(s)? Video of the ensuing collapse is pretty frightening. The span was 1.6 miles long, and a large portion of it is now simply gone. As you might imagine, the loss of the bridge has severely disrupted local traffic patterns. Here's hoping the death toll is minimal.
The latest I've read is that it was a loss of power.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the many videos of the crash show the ship's lights conking out at least twice. Much is also being made of how the ship seemed to steer toward the bridge pylon, then try to swerve away at the last second.
ReplyDeleteWe may have to wait a few days or weeks for (1) the death toll to stabilize, and (2) reports to come out and give us details of what really happened. What a nightmare.