March 28, 2024 - Baltimore Key Bridge collapse
Updated 12:00 AM EDT, Fri March 29, 2024
Our live coverage has ended. Followthe latest news on the Baltimore bridge collapse or read through the updates below.
The federal government has given Maryland officials the $60 million requested to cover the first steps of responding to the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, according to a Federal Highway Administration news release.
Federal Highway Administration chief Shailen Bhatt said the emergency funding would go toward removing debris, rerouting traffic and ultimately rebuilding the bridge.
Here’s what else the authorities said in a news briefing this evening:
There’s at least one vehicle of a large size that has been detected underwater, according to Col. Roland L. Butler Jr., the superintendent of Maryland State Police.
“There’s at least one vehicle, larger in size, that is completely encapsulated by the superstructure of the bridge, concrete,” among other things, Butler said Thursday evening.
“It’s going to take some time to get to that, and it’s going to take some time to do that carefully” before divers can go to recover that vehicle, he added.
There have been over 2,400 feet of boom deployed to contain any leaks of pollution in the aftermath of the collapse of the Key Bridge, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said Thursday.
He said he personally did not see any sheen on the water when he went to assess the situation on site.
Remember:56 containerswith hazardous materials were found on the vessel.
There are 14 containers on the ship were impacted, and they contained items like soap and perfume, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath said at the briefing, adding that he did not have information on whether any of those materials went overboard.
Air monitors are in place to track any potential threats and they have not picked up any threats so far, Gilreath added.
Baltimore’s mayor said he is still “hopeful” the bodies of the other workers presumed dead will be recovered.
Authorities announced on Wednesday they werepausing search and recovery efforts for the four other workers presumed dead because debris made it unsafe for divers to continue. Once this next phase ofsalvage operations is complete and the debris is cleared, divers will search for more remains.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said that during the salvage operation, he hopes “we are able to recover those who remain missing and bring them home to their families.
The mayor said he directed his administration to work with the governor’s office “on any and every effort that must be taken.”
The Army Corps of Engineers will cover the full cost of clearing the channel where Baltimore’s Key Bridge collapsed, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Thursday.
“We all recognize that getting the Port of Baltimore running again at full speed is a priority given all the jobs that are associated with it, all the small businesses, all the other businesses,” Sen. Van Hollen said at Thursday’s news briefing. “And as the governor pointed out, this is not just a Maryland issue, it’s a national and global question.”
The Army Corps of Engineers is moving the largest crane in the Eastern Seaboard to Baltimore to help clear the channel, and it is expected to arrive Thursday evening, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said.
“Under the leadership of Col. (Estee S.) Pinchasin, the Army Corps is moving the largest crane in the Eastern Seaboard to Baltimore to help us,” Moore said at a news conference. “It is estimated that will arrive later this evening.”
“It’s a 1,000-ton crane coming around midnight,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen said at the same news conference. “And another 400-ton crane coming Saturday for the operations to clear the channel.”
The post was updated with information about the crane from Sen. Van Hollen.
Officials working to remove the collapsed Key Bridge from the channel are conducting a full assessment of all pieces of debris before they can lift them out of the water, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath.
This assessment is critical in figuring out how to cut the bridge into the right size pieces so cranes can lift them out, he said.
“We are doing those assessments right now with underwater surveys, with engineering teams back in unified command,” Gilreath said, adding that the assessment is in coordination with several other partners, including the US Army Corp of Engineers.
“That is our number one priority is to reopen the Port of Baltimore as fast as we can, and do it safely,” he added.
Water conditions are hindering divers’ visibility as they conduct recovery operations, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said Thursday.
“That water is so dark, and debris is so dense, that in most instances our divers cannot see more than a foot or two in front of them,” Moore said at a news briefing. “So much of the operation is simply feel.”
Maryland officials are moving at “full speed” to accomplish four main priorities in the days following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, Gov. Wes Moore said Thursday.
Here are the directives mandated by Moore:
The governor promised to give regular updates on all of these directives but said they will take a long time to accomplish.
“This work will not take hours. This work will not take days. This work will not just take weeks. We have a very long road ahead of us,” Moore said.
The federal government has given Maryland officials the $60 million requested to cover the first steps of responding tothe collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, according to a Federal Highway Administration news release.
Federal transportation officials said Thursday that Maryland Gov. Wes Moore requested the money as a “down payment” toward cleaning up and rebuilding the bridge, the release said.
Federal Highway Administration chief Shailen Bhatt said the emergency funding would go toward removing debris, rerouting traffic, and ultimately rebuilding the bridge.
The state can later request additional funding. The state’s congressional delegation said they would press fellow lawmakers to fund the rebuilding project.
Dive operations and vehicle recovery have been paused at the Key Bridge collapse site due to the submerged wreckage and debris causing hazardous conditions, according to a Unified Commandnews release.
The Unified Command established a 2000-yard Safety Zone for the M/V Dali recovery efforts, a statement released Thursday from Unified Command read, adding that on-scene crews continue to assess and monitor for spilled oils and hazardous substances.
“The Unified Command is addressing environmental concerns with response teams conducting visual inspections of water quality and collecting samples for testing,” the release read.
Of the 56 containers on the vessel that contained hazardous materials, 13 were impacted and assessed by an industrial hygienist for potential hazards.
According to the statement, the Unified Command found soap products, perfume products or not otherwise specified resin. No volatile organic compounds or flammable vapors have been found around the ship as air monitoring continues around it, the release added.
The Unified Command includes the US Coast Guard, US Army Corps of Engineers, Maryland Department of Environment, Maryland Transpiration Authority, emergency management company Witt O’Brien’s and Maryland State Police.
Marcel Muise, the National Transportation Safety Board investigator in charge, on Wednesdayprovided the following timeline of events based on the recovered voyage data recorder (VDR).
Authorities in Maryland are starting salvage operations on Wednesday after a cargo ship collided with Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge earlier this week.
Six people are presumed dead after the bridge collapsed. Officials found two bodies during the last of search and recovery operations on Tuesday, according to the state police.
Here’s what we know:
A small family business is rallying behind one of its employees, Isabel Franco, who says her husband, Jose Mynor Lopez, went missing after the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed on Tuesday.
The Owls Corner Café, located in Dundalk, Maryland, started aGoFundMe for Franco and her family after officials called off the rescue mission and said the missing people were presumed dead, according to owner Lilly Ordonez. The page reached its goal of $25,000 in less than a day, she added.
The organizers of the page plan on distributing additional funds raised to other families impacted by the tragedy. The café will be closed for the rest of the week out of respect for Lopez and his family.
“Jose was a great man, husband and dad,” Ordonez told CNN on Wednesday. “An extremely hard-working individual, a great provider and family man.”
Ordonez said she is very close to the family and that Franco is in a state of shock. “She’s barely sleeping or eating. She’s by the phone waiting for news,” she said.
Lopez’s two young children don’t understand what’s going on, but his 17-year-old daughter is acting as a great support system for her mother, Ordonez told CNN.
CNN has reached out to local authorities to confirm Lopez is among the missing.
CNN’s Caroll Alvarado contributed to this report.
The Baltimore Orioles honored victims of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse before the team’s season opening game against the Los Angeles Angels at Oriole Park on Thursday.
The Orioles held a moment of silence to honor victims, first responders and those impacted by the fatal incident.
The television broadcast showed fans, players, and others bowing their heads with hats off in a short moment of reflection.
Meanwhile, the Morgan State University Choir performed a rendition of the national anthem. The Orioles lowered an American flag from the batter’s eye section of the stadium during the anthem.
According to MLB, “The flag is a replica of the one that flew over Fort McHenry when Francis Scott Key wrote the ‘Star-Spangled Banner.’”
A previously scheduled workout and rally that had been planned for Tuesday was canceled in wake of the bridge collapse.
Immigrant Hispanic workers face a disproportionate risk of occupational death in the United States, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics figures — and the death rate is rising.
Foreign-born Hispanic or Latino workers made up 8% of the employed US workforce in 2021 but 14% of the work-related deaths, data shows. The six construction workers found dead or presumed dead from the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse were all of Hispanic origin, from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.
Data shows nearly half of foreign-born employees in the United States — more than 12.5 million people — were Hispanic in 2021, including legal and undocumented immigrants, refugees, and temporary workers. And while this group’s working population increased 17% over a 10-year period, the occupational death among them grew 42%.
On the night of the Baltimore bridge collapse, a worker with Brawner Builders requested a last-minute shift change, which he says saved his life.
Moises Diaz told CNN via text he worked with all of thevictims of the bridge collapse and that they would have likely been on their break at the time of impact early Tuesday morning.
Some background: Brawner Builders Executive Vice President Jeffrey Pritzker told CNNseven employees were on the bridge and just one survived.
“These were wonderful young men. They were doing a tough job. These guys were hardworking wonderful people and now they’re gone,” Pritzker said.
The US Navy’s Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV) is currently serving as the lead for salvage operations for the Francis Scott Key Bridge, a spokesperson said on Thursday.
“The team is currently in the process of mobilizing a 1000-ton lift capacity derrick barge, 400-ton lift capacity revolving crane barge, and 160T revolving crane as well as support vessels,” the spokesperson said. “SUPSALV will work with its contracted support to salvage and remove submerged portions of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.’
The spokesperson also said that the Navy provided a MH-60S Seahawk from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, and “one small boat” from the Navy Reserve Center Baltimore, on March 26, in the search and rescue efforts after the bridge’s collapse.