#baltimore bridge collapse

[slyandthefamilybook]

okay because I'm seeing some misinfo, here's the story on the Key Bridge collapse

What was the Key Bridge?

The Francis Scott Key Bridge (also called the Key Bridge, the Beltway Bridge, and the Outer Harbor Crossing) was steel-arch continuous-through-truss bridge spanning the Patapsco River south of the Baltimore Harbor. The bridge took 5 years to build and cost an estimated $145 million ($735 million in today's dollars). The full bridge project (including approaches) was 10.9 miles long, but the stretch over the Patapsco was 1.6 miles long and 4 lanes wide, and comprised a length of I-695, the Baltimore Beltway. It traveled between Hawkins Point and Dundalk, and in addition to the I-895 Harbor Tunnel was the primary way for Marylanders to cross from the Eastern Shore to the West. The bridge carried an estimated 11.5 million vehicles per year. There is a lane for ships to pass under the Key Bridge with enough clearance.

Was it structurally sound?

The bridge received its latest inspection in 2022 and received a 6/9 score, which is considered "fair" by federal standards. There was a concern with one of its columns, which was downgraded from a health index of 77.8 to 65.9, but it is not clear yet if this was one of the columns struck by the ship. In 1980 the bridge was struck by a different cargo ship which destroyed a concrete support structure, but the bridge itself was unharmed. There is as of yet no evidence that the bridge collapsed because of poor condition. Experts say the lesson to be learned is about the size and weight of modern cargo ships, and that the bridge was not to blame. Engineers have noted, however, that the bridge's piers lacked protective devices such as fenders.

What was the ship?

The MV Dali is a container ship flying the Singapore flag. It is owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and operated by Synergy Marine Group Ltd. The ship is currently being chartered by Maersk, a Dutch shipping company. It was built in 2015 by Hyundai. The ship is 980 feet long and 157 feet wide. The ship's gross tonnage (its internal volume) is 95,128 tons (190,256,000 pounds). Its deadweight (the weight of cargo it can carry) is 116,851 tons (233,702,000 pounds). The ship was carrying 3,000 containers. The engine is a MAN-B&W 9S90ME putting out 41,480 kilowatts (55,626 horsepower).

Over its lifetime the Dali has been inspected 27 times, and only 2 faults were ever found. On June 27, 2023 the Dali was held in port in Chile due to an issue with the propulsion system. According to an inspector the pressure gauges on the heating system were "unreadable". The fault was fixed before the ship left port.

The Dali is crewed by 22 Indian nationals including 2 maritime pilots.

What happened?

The Dali arrived at the Port of Baltimore on March 23, 2024. At 12:44 AM on March 26, 2024 the Dali left port, beginning its journey to Colombo, Sri Lanka. At 01:26 AM the ship suffered a "complete blackout" and began to drift out of the shipping lane. It is not yet known what caused the electrical failure. The backup generator did not power the propulsion system. At around 01:26 AM the crew of the Dali sent a mayday distress call to the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) informing them of the loss of power and that a collision with the Key Bridge was possible. The anchors were dropped as an emergency measure to attempt to slow or stop the vessel. At the request of one of the pilots traffic flow over the bridge was immediately halted. Black smoke was seen coming from the Dali, which experts believe was the result of the crew managing to restart the power system to regain some maneuvering capability.

At 01:28 AM the Dali, traveling at 8 knots (considered to be a fast speed) collided with a support strut beneath the Key Bridge's metal truss at the southwest end of the bridge. A Baltimore resident said he heard the collision and that it "felt like an earthquake". Emergency teams began receiving 911 calls at 01:30 AM, and the Baltimore Police Department were alerted at 01:35 AM. One of the officers present radioed that he was going to go onto the bridge to alert the construction crew as soon as a second officer arrived, but the bridge collapsed seconds later.

What was the damage?

The Key Bridge has completely collapsed. The metal truss relies on structural tension from the bridge itself to maintain its rigidity. As soon as one of the support columns was destroyed, the rest of the bridge quickly followed.

The damage to the Dali is reported as minimal. The ship was impaled by the bridge's structure above the waterline, but has maintained watertight integrity. The crew has not reported any water contamination from its 1.8 million gallons of marine fuel. 13 containers carrying potentially hazardous material were damaged, and are being inspected by a team of Coast Guard divers. At least 5 vehicles including 3 passenger cars and a cement mixer were detected underwater, but authorities do not believe they were occupied

Who was hurt?

The crew of the Dali reports no casualties, except one crewmember who was hospitalized for minor injuries. There was a crew of 8 construction workers on the Key Bridge filling in potholes. 2 were immediately pulled from the water by rescue crews, with 1 being rushed to emergency care and the other reporting minor injuries and refusing treatment. The hospitalized worker has since been discharged. 1 of those rescued was Mexican. The remaining 6 remain missing. Of those 6, 2 have been identified:

Miguel Luna from El Salvador

Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval from Honduras

Of the remaining 4, 2 are Guatemalan nationals. Neither have been identified, but the Guatemalan Foreign Affairs Ministry has stated that they were a 26-year-old from San Luis, Petén, and a 35-year-old from Camotán, Chiquimula. The other 2 are presumed to be Mexican.

Rescue Efforts

The Coast Guard was immediately deployed for search-and-rescue operations. Military Blackhawk helicopters were seen over the river. Rescue efforts were ended at 07:30 PM on March 26, 2024 due to darkness, fog, and cold temperatures. Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath said "Based on the length of time that we've gone in the search, the extensive search efforts that we put into it, the water temperature -- at this point, we do not believe that we're going to find any of these individuals still alive". Recovery operations resumed at 07:30 AM on March 27, 2024 with all 6 workers presumed dead.

No divers have yet entered the water underneath the bridge. Supervisory Special Agent Brian Hudson of the FBI's Underwater Search and Evidence Response Team said "the debris field is pretty sizable and I know that’s why they’re hesitant to send divers down because some of the debris is still shifting, the heavy weight of the rocks". The FBI has deployed Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) equipped with cameras and SONAR.

Aftermath

At 05:08 AM on March 26, 2024 Transportation Secretary Pete Buttegiege posted on X (formerly Twitter):

"I’ve spoken with Gov. Moore and Mayor Scott to offer USDOT’s support following the vessel strike and collapse of the Francis Scott Key bridge. Rescue efforts remain underway and drivers in the Baltimore area should follow local responder guidance on detours and response."

At 07:30 AM on March 27, 2024 President of the Maryland State Senate Bill Ferguson posted on X (formerly Twitter):

"Over 15,000 in the Balt region rely on daily operations at Port of Baltimore to put food on the table. Today, with Del. @LukeClippinger and colleagues representing Port, we are drafting an emergency bill to provide for income replacement for workers impacted by this travesty."

At around 09:40 AM on March 26, 2024 Maryland Governor Wes Moore and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott declared a State of Emergency to take effect at 10:30 AM March 26, 2024, and to last 30 days. Baltimore's Emergency Operations Plan was put into effect.

More than 1,000 personnel from the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) have been deployed to assist with clearing the debris and rebuilding efforts. President Joe Biden has pledged that the federal government will pay for the entire reconstruction of the bridge.

Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recovered the Dali's data recorder, and will be inspecting both the Key Bridge and the Dali to determine the cause of the crash and the collapse. She says the investigation could take up to 2 years to complete.

Was it intentional?

According to William DelBagno, head of the FBI's Baltimore field office: "There is no specific or credible information to suggest there are ties to terrorism in this incident".

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said: "There are no indications this was an intentional act".

At least 3 people have been killed in accidents related to ships operated by Synergy in the past 6 years. In 2018 a person on board a Synergy ship in Australia was killed in an accident relating to the vessel's personnel elevator. In 2019 an officer aboard a Synergy vessel in Singapore fell overboard while performing maintenance. In 2023 at least one sailor was killed when a Synergy ship collided with a dredging ship in the Philippines. In the first two cases safety inspectors noted that proper safety procedures had not been adhered to.

Sources

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

#atlas entry #this is still a developing story but all the information herein is accurate and current at time of publishing #baltimore #baltimore bridge collapse #francis scott key bridge #key bridge #I spent an hour collating all this info please give it a reblog

[reality-detective]

You Decide 🤔

#pay attention #educate yourselves #educate yourself #knowledge is power #reeducate yourself #reeducate yourselves #think about it #think for yourselves #think for yourself #do your homework #do some research #do your own research #ask yourself questions #question everything #baltimore bridge collapse #baltimore maryland #you decide #explosives #black swan

[classycookiexo]

THIS

Cause who gaf about packages right now ?!

#baltimore bridge collapse

[stormesandshowersparttwo]

#Baltimore bridge collapse #francis scott key #bridge #Baltimore #post from: #bluesky

[alwaysbewoke]

#brandon scott #francis scott key bridge collapse #baltimore mayor #racist attacks #diversity equity inclusion #wes moore #baltimore politics #political criticism #city leadership #baltimore community #urban challenges #racial discrimination #political backlash #community activism #baltimore bridge collapse #infrastructure disaster #francis scott key bridge #construction accident #rescue operations #salvage effort #port of baltimore #supply chains #federal government #reconstruction cost #insurance claims #liability

[spaceshipsandpurpledrank]

#talkin #tik tok #tonystatovci #racism #baltimore #baltimore bridge collapse

[trombonepunk]

#Baltimore #bridge #bridge collapse #Baltimore bridge collapse

[dougielombax]

Of course a cargo ship can bring down a bridge!

Even an idiot would know that!

Look at it!!!

Look at the fucking size of the bastard thing!

That shit could crack a fucking minesweeper in HALF!!!!!!!! (Yes that did happen!)

How stupid do you have to be to suggest it was an inside job?!

Fucking brainlets!

#dougie rambles #personal stuff #vent post #what #baltimore #bridge #bridge collapse #francis scott key bridge #maryland #baltimore bridge collapse #Baltimore bridge #cargo ship #dali #singapore #oopsie #brainrot in action #fucking morons #disaster

[probablynotsamantha]

Saw this post but OP understandably turned off reblogs, thought I'd get it going again with an addition that the Sun was recently bought by Sinclair and IIRC people have been saying that the quality's gone down and it's shifted rightwards.

I've spent a decent amount of time in Baltimore (NEC my beloved) and yeah that bridge is a BIG DEAL. Ignoring all the traffic that goes over it (there is a tunnel that people can use, though it's a ways out of the way) the Port of Baltimore is blocked to basically all marine traffic for the foreseeable future. It was also a notable state landmark, which kinda sucks to lose.

Additional note: I've seen some people saying that this was caused by poor bridge design, that's not exactly true. That boat crashed into it with around 4 times the momentum of your average jumbo jet WHILE IN FLIGHT. You simply can't design things to sustain that sort of an impact. The bridge didn't have the dolphins (concrete structures designed to prevent boats from hitting supports) required today because it was built before those regulations (implemented due to a similar collapse) and before ships of this size even existed. Whether dolphins would be sufficient to stop a boat of that size I can't be sure, especially as this was a head-on collision and dolphins are more effective at redirecting glancing blows than stopping a head-on impact. However, I was able to find that the bridge whose that sparked the requirements for dolphins has new dolphins that aren't rated for an impact from a ship of this size, so it's quite possible the bridge would've been badly damaged and/or destroyed anyways.

#baltimore #francis scott key bridge #bridge collapse #baltimore bridge collapse #sorry i hate tagging like this but I figure this is an actually useful post

[sordidamok]

"They don't have the courage to say the N-word."

#brandon scott #baltimore bridge collapse #diversity #equity #inclusion #vote blue #vote biden #vote democrat #democracy #social democracy #black lives matter #vote blue 2024 #vote blue to save democracy #democrats #democratic socialism #democrats now socialism later

[torchickentacos]

Congrats to people in the Baltimore tag for getting me THIS close to breaking my 'no arguments on tumblr/no responding to stupid shit' rule, which I'm still half breaking right now. Anyways, insensitive memes and ridiculous conspiracies over a total anomaly/freak accident aside, I'm so sorry to anyone affected by the Baltimore bridge collapse, and hoping the missing people are found. Also extending sympathy to people with intense car anxiety/bridge phobias. There's tons of bridges like that in the VA/DC/MD/PA/DE/overall Chesapeake area, and I'm very sorry to those with anxiety who now have to cross those bridges daily on their commute despite recent events.

#baltimore bridge collapse #key bridge collapse #<<<for filtering #like idk man. feels weird talking about it bc i rarely give my opinions on stuff like this #i generally don't feel as if i have anything meaningful or helpful to add to conversations #but just annoyed at this in general. no evergiven jokes. no supernatural meme announcements. use some fucking tact #a bridge with people on it collapsing is not the same as a cargo ship getting safely stuck for a week #'is it a coincidence that this happened on evergiven week' yes. shut up. next. #it just gets to me when people take something like this and try to spin it into some conspiracy or joke or whatever

[sznofthesticks]

the bridge collapse/collision in baltimore is actually so fucking terrifying and makes me never want to drive over a bridge again

source for anyone unaware of what i’m talking about

#current events #i’m just thinking of someone driving across the bridge at 1am and suddenly in 45 degree water. #baltimore bridge collapse

[classycookiexo]

Disgusting

#baltimore bridge collapse

[plethoraworldatlas]

Immigrants helped build this country, a fact no amount of racism or xenophobia can erase. Immigrants, including children, work in fields and factories, driving our economy. A group of immigrant men were working late last Tuesday night, filling potholes on Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge.

At 1:27 am, the Dali, a massive cargo vessel, 948-feet long and laden with roughly 4,700 shipping containers, lost power and rammed into the bridge, causing it to collapse. Two survived the disaster, six died. Only two of their bodies have been recovered from the cold, murky water of the Patapsco River.

Their tragic deaths occurred as increased immigrant arrivals are being exploited by former President Donald Trump and his right-wing extremist allies to foment division and to boost Trump’s presidential campaign. Just hours after the bridge collapse, FoxNews host Maria Bartiromo, interviewing Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott, attempted to link the maritime disaster to immigrants at the U.S.’ southern border:

“I want to understand the threats or the potential threats that this country is facing right now given the wide open border, the fact that we don’t know who is in the country. The FBI is looking… to ensure there was no foul play.”

“While we’re being talked about as like this invading horde that’s coming to destroy the country, what does this story actually show us? That immigrants are filling our potholes at night so that we can have a smooth drive to work in the morning.”

This is the same dog-whistle racism that Trump invoked in 2015, launching his first campaign: “When Mexico sends its people…They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” Trump continues his white supremacist ranting, saying at a recent Ohio campaign rally, “I don’t know if you call them people… These are animals and we have to stop it.”

Maximillian Alvarez, editor-in-chief of the Baltimore-based Real News Network, interviewed coworkers of the deceased. He said on the Democracy Now! news hour, “While we’re being talked about as like this invading horde that’s coming to destroy the country, what does this story actually show us? That immigrants are filling our potholes at night so that we can have a smooth drive to work in the morning.”

The six who died while working on the Key Bridge were hardworking men, from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.

Miguel Luna was a welder, a 49-year-old father and grandfather, a native of the Usulután Department in El Salvador, ravaged by the U.S.-backed Salvadoran military and paramilitaries in the 1980s. He played on the professional soccer team in the town of Berlin in his home region. His widow, Maria del Carmen, owns a food truck. Miguel was a beloved member of his community.

Miguel and another victim of the collapse, Maynor Suazo Sandoval, were members of CASA, an immigrant rights non-profit founded in 1986 to build solidarity with those impacted by the U.S.-backed violence in Central America. CASA wrote, “Maynor migrated from Honduras over 17 years ago, and he alongside his brother Carlos were active members in the activist committee of Owings Mills… Carlos said ‘He was always so full of joy, and brought so much humor to our family.’ He was a husband, and father of two.”

Details are still emerging of the other named victims, Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Mexico and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Guatemala. Their bodies were found inside a pickup truck, submerged in the river. Two more victims, also reportedly from Mexico and Guatemala, remain unnamed by their respective governments.

Details are still emerging of the other named victims, Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Mexico and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Guatemala. Their bodies were found inside a pickup truck, submerged in the river. Two more victims, also reportedly from Mexico and Guatemala, remain unnamed by their respective governments.

Millions of enslaved people also built this country, a point worth remembering as we mourn the immigrant laborers on the Key Bridge. The bridge was named after Francis Scott Key since, while watching the British navy bombard Fort McHenry in 1814, not far from where the bridge was built in the 1970s, Key wrote the poem that would become the national anthem. His poem has four stanzas, the first made famous as “The Star Spangled Banner.” Key was a slave owner, and denounced those who fled enslavement in 1814 to fight against the United States, for the British, who promised them freedom in return.

“No refuge could save the hireling and slave, From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,” Key wrote in his poem, words left out of the national anthem, but which nevertheless noticeably rhyme with “Land of the free and home of the brave.” This should be considered by those tasked with naming the replacement bridge.

The lives of Miguel and the five other workers have been cut short, but the hatred of immigrants, sadly, is alive, well and growing this election year. Pledges from President Joe Biden to quickly open Baltimore’s port to commerce parallel campaign rhetoric on both sides to “shut down” the southern border to people seeking asylum.

“Immigrants like Miguel are building bridges to connect communities, not building walls to divide them,” CASA wrote, eulogizing Miguel Luna. Let those words inspire an embrace of immigrant communities, an anthem we can all rally around.

#us politics #biden administration #immigrant rights #immigration #immigrants #migrants #Migrant labor #baltimore #baltimore bridge collapse #Just like how Democrats have raised Police budgets and cut back on police oversight to look “tough on crime” for “suburban moderates” #They want to look “tough on immigration” #This is the price of that; Immigrants being treated as disposable and dying and being called “not even human” to no protest from Dems #vote uncommitted #racism

[alwaysbewoke]

#late capitalism #contemporary economy #income inequality #corporate power #shrinking middle class #economic absurdities #capitalist system #socio-economic critique #economic critique #wealth disparity #capitalist society #economic system #baltimore bridge collapse #infrastructure disaster #francis scott key bridge #construction accident #rescue operations #salvage effort #port of baltimore #supply chains #federal government #reconstruction cost #insurance claims #liability

[dd-the-man-without-fear]

#baltimore bridge collapse #baltimore bridge #lord of the rings #lotr #the lord of the rings #tlotr #lego #meme #memes #shitpost #shitposting