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Six people remained unaccounted for as a major rescue operation got under way in Baltimore following the collapse of a road bridge that was struck by a container ship early on Tuesday morning, plunging vehicles and workers into the water.
Rescue officials in Baltimore said two people had been removed from the Patapsco river. The missing people were believed to be construction workers carrying out pothole repair work on the bridge at the time of the collapse, officials said.
Maryland governor Wes Moore said that the ship had reported losing power shortly before the collision and issued a mayday call. Moore has declared a state of emergency in the state.
President Joe Biden was expected to speak about the bridge’s collapse later on Tuesday.
Video footage showed a section of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsing at about 1.30am local time. The bridge carries the Interstate 695 highway across the river.
Denmark’s Maersk, the world’s second-biggest container shipping line, confirmed that it had chartered the container ship Dali, which hit the bridge. The company said the vessel was operated by Synergy Group and was carrying Maersk customers’ cargo.
Maersk would not be calling at Baltimore “for the foreseeable future”, it said. “Due to the damage to the bridge and resulting debris, it will not be possible to reach the . . . port of Baltimore for the time being,” the shipping line said. “In line with this, we are omitting Baltimore on all our services for the foreseeable future, until it is deemed safe for passage through this area.”
Rescue operations were being carried out “on the surface of the water, subsurface” and “on the deck of the ship itself”, said Baltimore fire department chief James Wallace. He added that several vehicles had been “detected” in the water.
“This is an unthinkable tragedy,” said Baltimore mayor Brandon Scott.
Maryland Department of Transportation secretary Paul Wiedefeld said there were no indications that the collision was caused intentionally or that there was any “terrorism connection”. There were “no confirmed fatalities”, Wiedefeld added.
Information on Marine Traffic, a vessel-tracking service, showed that Dali, a 300-metre Singapore-flagged ship, had just left Baltimore for the Sri Lankan port of Colombo. Synergy Group said the ship was using specialist pilots to navigate out of the port.
“All crew members, including the two pilots who were aboard, have been accounted for and there are no reports of any injuries,” Synergy said.
Kweisi Mfume, the Democratic congressman representing the bridge’s Maryland district, said the collapse was “an unthinkable horror”.
“Our prayers right now are for the missing individuals and victims of this tragedy,” said Mfume.
Insurer databases showed the ship had liability insurance through Britannia, one of a global group of protection and indemnity insurers that shares losses and are ultimately reinsured at Lloyd’s of London.
Britannia said it was “working closely with the ship manager and relevant authorities to establish the facts and to help ensure that this situation is dealt with quickly and professionally”. The company said its “thoughts are with everyone affected by this incident”.
Marine insurance experts told the Financial Times that the tragedy was likely to lead to a substantial claim, including for damage to the bridge and disruption to the port.
Baltimore is one of the busiest ports on the US east coast, serving a large metro area including Washington, DC. Serious collisions between ships and civilian infrastructure are rare events, especially ones causing extensive damage and injury.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge was opened to traffic in 1977 to ease Baltimore’s growing congestion, according to the website of Preservation Maryland, a non-profit heritage organisation.
It was named after Francis Scott Key, the lawyer and poet who penned the US national anthem “The Star-Spangled Banner”. Key was inspired to write the words by the successful US defence of Baltimore against a British assault in 1814.
The accident comes after a cargo ship collided last month with a bridge in Guangzhou, southern China, killing five people.
Additional reporting by David Sheppard, Michael Peel and Ian Smith in London