Officials in the eastern US city of Baltimore, Maryland, have declared a “mass casualty” event and state of emergency after a cargo ship struck a major bridge, causing it to collapse.
Two people were rescued from the water on Tuesday morning, Baltimore City Fire Department Chief James Wallace told reporters, with up to seven believed to still be missing.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott described the scene as unbelievable and like “something out of an action movie”, after footage showed a large section of the 2.6km Francis Scott Key Bridge toppling into the Patapsco River at about 1.30am on Tuesday.
“There are people in the water and that's the only thing we should be talking about,” he added, at a sunrise emergency press conference.
Up to seven vehicles are believed to have fallen into the river, which is up to 15 metres deep in some areas, Baltimore's fire department confirmed.
A number of workers were carrying out repairs when the vessel hit the bridge.
Kevin Cartwright, the fire department’s communications director, told reporters that “we are working against darkness” in the early-morning rescue and recovery effort.
He added that wind, frigid temperatures and murky waters made working conditions difficult.
US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has been in contact with local officials, Mr Scott added, and is “working to make sure we have every reassurance that he and the federal government can provide”.
Collapse
The White House said that President Joe Biden has been briefed on the collapse and he “will continue to receive updates from his team throughout the day”.
Senator Chris Van Hollen, the progressive Maryland Senator called the collapse “horrific”.
“I’m praying for those who were on the bridge and thankful for emergency crews responding to this disaster,” he added on X.
One of the people pulled from the river refused medical treatment and the other was seriously injured and is being treated at a trauma centre, Mr Wallace said. He added that rescuers still have a large area to search.
A large tractor-trailer was crossing the bridge when it collapsed, fire department officials told CBS News.
It said there was a large amount of diesel in the water following the bridge collapse.
The coastguard has three small boats and a larger patrol boat in the water, as well as a helicopter searching for survivors.
The ship in the collision, a Singapore-flagged container vessel named the Dali, had set off from Baltimore, bound for Sri Lanka, at 1am on Tuesday.
The Dali appeared to lose power before it struck the bridge, and footage showing large plumes of smoke rising from the ship were shared online.
Its crew are safe and unhurt, the ship's management said in a statement.
“Whilst the exact cause of the incident is yet to be determined, the Dali has now mobilised its qualified individual incident response service,” said the Singapore-based Synergy Maritime Group.
Maritime traffic in and out of the port has been suspended until further notice, officials said. The area near the bridge has been declared a "no drone zone" by the Federal Aviation Administration.
“Please pray for those impacted,” Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski posted on X.
The bridge carries Maryland's Interstate 695, which encircles Baltimore. It is the world's third-longest continuous truss bridge.
A critical element of the city's skyline, transit and infrastructure, the bridge was named after Baltimore poet Francis Scott Key, the author of the American national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner.
More than a third of US bridges are in need of repair, and over 43,000 are in poor condition and classified as "structurally deficient", according to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association.
In June, a bridge collapsed in Philadelphia after a lorry carrying 8,500 gallons of petrol crashed and caught fire on a major motorway used by about 160,000 people daily.
State authorities declared a state of emergency after the crash, which caused major disruption to traffic on the east coast and required a month of repairs.
Thirteen people were killed in a 2007 bridge collapse in Minnesota.
Investigators said the accident was caused by construction errors, causing the bridge to collapse.
