Baltimore Bridge Tragedy: Deaths, Facts, Updates, And An In Depth Summary Of What Occurred
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I'm sure you've heard about the bridge that collapsed in Maryland, but let me give you a quick update on everything that's happened and what we can expect for the future. This morning, a stunning bridge collapsed at the Port of Baltimore. Personnel on board the ship were able to alert the Maryland Department of Transportation. This was the moment that a 32,000-ton container ship slammed into a steel bridge in Baltimore, toppling the structure in a matter of seconds. That they had lost control of their vessel, as you all know and reported.

As a result, local authorities were able to close the bridge to traffic before the bridge was struck, which undoubtedly saved lives.

So a little after 1:15 AM on the morning of March 26th, 2024, the container ship Dolly was cruising down the Patapsco river. That's part of the Baltimore Harbor, which is a major port, the 17th largest in the US. So tons of ships come up and down the river from all over the world. The Dolly was from Singapore and that night it was on its way to Sri Lanka.

like many other ships on the river, was supposed to pass under the Francis Scott Key Bridge. It spanned the Patapsco running 1.6 miles from end to end, which should have been no big deal. Ships sailed under this bridge all the time without incident.

But that night, at around 1:24 a.m., the dolly's onboard alarms began to ring. This meant there was something wrong with the ship, but the crew couldn't immediately figure out what the problem was. At least, not entirely. It was clear enough that the vessel had lost power, and without it, they couldn't steer or come to a safe stop.

The crew began running diagnostics to try and figure out what was causing the outage, but they couldn't uncover any useful information or get the engines up and running again. They also tried to drop an anchor, and it's not clear if they just didn't have enough time or if the anchor didn't work fast enough. Given how big and heavy the ship was and how fast it was going, it would take a lot of time and room to bring it to a stop.

Think how hard it is to get your car to a halt when you slam on the brakes after driving at your top speed. And now imagine you're driving in the water without any friction with the ground. The dolly kept hurtling forward on a collision course with the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

The crew knew a crash would be disastrous. The bridge was a major four lane through way. One of the only routes drivers could take to get from New York to Washington, DC without having to pass through the city of Baltimore. An average of 31,000 motorists cross the bridge every single day.

And even in the middle of the night, there were bound to be people on it. All the crew could do was warn the folks on the land of the imminent collision. They hopped on their radio and announced that they were just about to hit. Luckily, they gave just enough warning for Maryland's Department of Transportation and the Transit Authority to shut down traffic. They had to act fast. The police officers who were stationed near the bridge only had 90 seconds to respond before the ship hit the bridge.

But in those 90 seconds, they closed the road. No one was allowed onto the bridge while the dolly was hurling toward it. It's undeniable. Their speedy response saved many lives. And so did the pilot's decision to call in the warning when they did. The bridge was mostly empty by the time the dolly slammed into its base. In an instant, the structure came down. Massive bars of steel splashed into the water and rained down on the dolly's decks.

Miraculously, no one on board the dolly was seriously hurt or killed. That's even though the collapse all happened very quickly. In the span of 10 seconds, one of Baltimore's most iconic structures vanished into the dark water. Now, like I said before, when it fell, the bridge was mostly empty, but not entirely. Some cars were parked on it, as well as larger vehicles like tractor trailers or something of a comparable size.

When the structure collapsed, they all plunged into the water. Initial reports said that they were all unoccupied. However, in addition to the vehicles, there were eight construction workers who fell into the river. They'd been working an overnight shift filling potholes. And at the moment of impact, they were all relaxing during a break.

And headlining here the new information, unfortunately, those six construction workers missing now presumed dead as of this morning. And since the police only had 90 seconds to clear the area, they didn't have enough time to get the workers to safety. Now, two of those employees were pulled out of the water right away. One was mostly unhurt, but the other was seriously injured. I know that at least one of those people checked into the hospital afterward. It's possible that both of them did.

and one of the workers was released later that afternoon. It's unclear to me which worker that was or what the other person's status is. Understandably, it sounds like the officials want to respect everyone's privacy and aren't saying too much about the survivors.

But as for the other six, rescue workers searched tirelessly for the next 19 hours. But each minute they went by had them feeling less hopeful. The distance from the bridge to the water was 185 feet. That was survivable, but barely. There was

There was a decent chance that one or more of the missing workers could have been killed or seriously injured in the fall. And even if they did live through the impact, they were in water that was 47 degrees Fahrenheit. That was a dangerous temperature.

So the longer rescuers went without finding the missing construction workers, the greater the odds were that they died of exposure. By 8:00 PM, rescuers called off the search. They said that from that point onward, their focus would be on recovering bodies. It was too unlikely that anyone in the water would still be alive.

Now the names of some of the victims still haven't been released, but I do know one of the construction workers was a man named Maynor Sandoval. According to his brother, Maynor was an immigrant from Honduras who lived in the U.S. for 18 years. He came from a big family with seven siblings and two more children of his own. Even though he was only 38 years old, Maynor used to talk about how someday he'd retire and go back to Honduras to live out his golden years.

and sadly that dream will never come true for him i feel for maynard's family and for the others who spent hours and then days simply waiting for the bad news by wednesday night two construction workers bodies had been recovered and identified during their break they both climbed into their red truck and turned it on after working in the chilly midnight air they wanted to warm up and their remains were still in the pickup when they were found the men never had the chance to escape or even try to swim back to the surface

And now that it was confirmed that the crash had taken lives, it was only natural to want to understand how it had happened and how we could prevent similar disasters in the future.

Of course, everyone knew the broad strokes. That the dolly lost power and then hit the bridge right on one of its foundational supports. But there were bigger questions about why it lost power and if there was foul play involved. Right away, on the morning of the bridge collapse, a Maryland prosecutor who was working with federal agencies said they'd ruled out terrorism as a factor. It was clear to them that the collision was an accident.

and there was nothing wrong with the Francis Scott Key Bridge. There were no prior signs of any structural issues or damage.

Now it didn't have any pier protections, which are buffers that can absorb some of the shock in the event of a collision like this. Think of them like the bumper on a car. They won't stop a crash from happening, but they can distribute the force so the bridge is less likely to fall down. But the sad truth was that the Dali was a massive ship. It was just shy of 1,000 feet long. So imagine laying three football fields alongside one another end to end,

and that's the kind of size we're talking about. When something like that hits a structure at a fast speed, a collapse is almost inevitable. And even with peer protections, the Francis Scott Key might not have survived the hit. So the bridge itself wasn't the problem, but officials were still left with questions about why and how the Dolly had lost power in the first place. I do have to say, as of this recording, there are still ongoing investigations and no one knows exactly what happened to it.

but I do think it's worth noting that just this past June, the DALI went through a routine inspection and the officials said there were issues with its propulsion systems. They fixed the problems that same day and three months later in September, the DALI passed its next inspection.

So it's not entirely clear if those old issues reared their ugly heads again, or if that older failed inspection had anything to do with the later failure. It's also worth highlighting that the March 26th crash wasn't the first time the Dali was involved in an accident. In 2016, it hit something in Belgium, but the collision was much, much less severe than the one in Baltimore. Either way, the Dali's track record wasn't great, but I do want to be clear.

It's far too early to point fingers, and they'll probably announce more once they know anything for sure. In the meanwhile, President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said they want to clear the wreckage out of the harbor and rebuild the bridge as soon as possible. After all, like I said before,

This was a major roadway. And while the debris is clogging the river, the ports aren't accessible. If other ships can't get in and out, it could hurt the entire United States' ability to import and export international products. Not to mention how the trucking industry would be impacted by the loss of a major shipping lane. So the Francis Scott Key Bridge's collapse wasn't just a tragedy with a human toll. It was also an economic and logistical nightmare.

So far, no one has a timeline for when the harbor will reopen or when the new bridge will be built, and searches are still underway for the missing construction workers' remains. There are also a lot of questions about what kind of cargo the dolly was carrying and what hazards it might pose to the environment or people.

It may be a while before any of that gets answered too. Everything has been a waiting game as we bide our time for answers, updates, discoveries, and a return to normal. In the meanwhile, sadly, all we can do is deal with the consequences that have already hit.