Bodies of 2 Baltimore bridge collapse victims recovered

Divers have recovered the bodies of two men who were working on ahighway bridge in Baltimoreearly Tuesday when it was struck by a cargo ship and collapsed into the riverbelow, police say.

The remains of the workers, who were 26 and 35, were found inside a red pickup truck submerged in roughly seven metres of waternear the mid-section of the fallen Francis Key Scott Bridge on Wednesday.

Col. Roland L. Butler Jr., superintendent for Maryland State Police, said officials have paused the search for the bodies of four more workers, who are presumed dead, because conditions in the water had become too dangerous.

The two men who died and the four who are presumed deadwere from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, Butler said. The man from Hondouras has been identified as Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval by that country's deputy foreign affairs minister.

Rescuers pulled two construction workers alive from the Patapsco River on Tuesday. One was hospitalized.

All eight were part of a work crew repairing potholes on the road surface when the cargo ship Dali, leaving Baltimore for Sri Lanka, struck one of the bridge's pillars.

WATCH | What could have led to the accident:

Baltimore bridge collapse: Master mariner explains what went wrong

7 months ago

Duration 8:30

Experienced master mariner Alain Arsenault explains what likely led up to a massive container ship striking and destroying a major Baltimore bridge, temporarily closing one of Americas biggest ports.

Based on sonar scans, authorities "firmly" believe the other vehicles with victims inside are encased in superstructures and concrete from the collapsed bridge, Butler said during an evening news conference.

Earlier Wednesday,federal safety investigators recovered the ship's data recorder, according toJennifer Homendy, chair of theU.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).NTSB investigators will also interview the ship's crew, she said.

A highway team also will be looking at the twisted remains of the 2.6-kilometre bridge as they try to determine how and why the ship smashed into the pillar.

Homendy said the Singapore-flagged vessel had one of the newer models of data recorder and that officials would be looking to gather information including "positioning of ship, the vessel itself, speed, you name it."

"It's going to take some time," she said. "We may be on scene five to 10 days."

Homendy said a preliminary fact-based report is typically available in two to four weeks, while an NTSB investigationreport with analysis and recommendations can take anywhere from 12 to 24 months.

WATCH | Bodies of 4 remaining missing men may never be recovered:

2 bodies recovered after Baltimore bridge collapse

7 months ago

Duration 2:43

Two bodies of the six presumed dead have been recovered from the Baltimore harbour following the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, despite tough weather conditions. Officials have seized the Dali container ship's black box and are analyzing the information it contains.

Homendy says there were 56 containersholding746 tonnes of hazardous materials on board the Dali, some of which were breached.

"We have seen a sheen on the waterway," she told reporters Wednesday evening. "Federal, state and local authorities are aware of that and they will be in charge of addressing those issues."

The materials in the containers, she said, were mainly corrosives, flammables and some miscellaneous materials like lithium ion batteries.

The U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday the cargo ship underwent "routine engine maintenance" in port beforehand.

Coast guard Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreathtold anews conference that authorities were informed that the ship was going to undergo the maintenance.

"As far as the engine goes, we were not informed of any problems with the vessel," Gilreathsaid.

The disaster has forced the indefinite closure of vessel traffic in the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest on the U.S. Eastern seaboard, and created a traffic quagmire for Baltimore and the surrounding region.

Maryland Gov. West Moore said Wednesday divers in the water faced dangerous conditions in the frigid waters of the Patapsco.

"They are down there in darkness where they can literally see about a foot in front of them. They are trying to navigate mangled metal, and they're also in a place it is now presumed that people have lost their lives," he said.

The 289-metre ship had reported a loss of propulsion shortly before impact and dropped anchor to slow the vessel, giving transportation authorities time to halt traffic on the bridge before the crash. That move likely prevented a higher death toll, authorities said.

WATCH | Governor praises 'heroism' of first responders, divers:

Divers working in 'frigid conditions' after Baltimore bridge collapse

7 months ago

Duration 0:50

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore praises search-and-rescue crews early Wednesday as they resumed their efforts around a collapsed bridge. Investigators will probe what happened when a cargo ship hit the critical bridge, Moore said, as well as look at the immediate response and aftermath.

It was unclear whether authorities also tried to alert the work crew ahead of the impact.

Moore said Tuesday that the bridge was up to code with no known structural issues. There was no evidence of intentionality in the crash, officials in law enforcement at the state and federal level said.

An inspection of the ship carried out in Chile last year found "propulsion and auxiliary machinery" deficiencies, according to data on the publicEquasis website, which provides information on ships.

But Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority said in a statement that the vessel passed two separate foreign-port inspections in June and September 2023. It said a faulty fuel pressure gauge was rectified before the vessel departed the port following its June 2023 inspection.

WATCH | Should Canadians be worried about our bridge infrastructure?:

How protected are Canadian bridges from collisions?

7 months ago

Duration 2:00

The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore has some experts questioning whether Canadian infrastructure could withstand such a devastating container ship crash.

Video footage on social media showed the vessel slamming into the 47-year-old Key Bridge in darkness, the headlights of vehicles visible on the span as it crashed into the water and the ship caught fire.

All 22 crew members on the ship, owned by Grace Ocean Pte Ltd, were accounted for, its management company, Synergy Marine Pte Ltd., reported.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said closure of the port would have a "major and protracted impact to supply chains." The Port of Baltimore handles more automobile freight than any other U.S. port more than 750,000 vehicles in 2022, according to port data, as well as container and bulk cargo, ranging from sugar to coal.

Still, economists and logistics experts said they doubted the port closure would unleash a major U.S. supply chain crisis or major spike in the price of goods, due to ample capacity at rival shipping hubs along the Eastern seaboard.

WATCH | Investigators try to pinpoint what went wrong on cargo ship:

Crews work to clear Baltimore bridge wreckage

7 months ago

Duration 1:59

Crews are working to clear the mass of wreckage from the Baltimore bridge collapse, after it was deemed too dangerous to continue searching for the four workers who are still missing and presumed dead.