Baltimore Key Bridge collapse: vehicles fall into water after ship hits bridge
www.theguardian.com
Mayor says rescue efforts are under way after cargo vessel crashed into Francis Scott Key Bridge, sending vehicles into water

A portion of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore has collapsed after a large boat collided with it early on Tuesday morning, sending multiple vehicles into the water.

At about 1.30am, a vessel crashed into the bridge, catching fire before sinking and causing multiple vehicles to fall into the water below, according to a video posted on X.

“All lanes closed both directions for incident on I-695 Key Bridge. Traffic is being detoured,” the Maryland Transportation Authority posted on X.

Matthew West, a petty officer first class for the coastguard in Baltimore, told the New York Times that the coastguard received a report of an impact at 1.27am ET. West said the Dali, a 948ft (29 metres) Singapore-flagged cargo ship, had hit the bridge, which is part of Interstate 695.

  • someguy3@lemmy.caEnglish
    32·
    9 months ago

    You’re not lifting it out of the way, you’re gonna pull it out of the way with a tugboat.

    • Treczoks@lemmy.world
      4·
      9 months ago

      It still is thousands of tons of steel, which will not be pulled that easily. And it is steel that does not swim, but drag along the muddy ground.

      • someguy3@lemmy.caEnglish
        82·
        9 months ago

        You cut it into pieces, add some buoyancy things. Naval operations can be impressive. Hell the Navy probably already has stuff to do this exact thing in case of war and a bridge out of Port gets destroyed. You don’t want your Navy blocked in. You also don’t need to move it far to get shipping back.

        • drphungky@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          9 months ago

          Feels like an army corps of engineer training exercise, especially after Biden committed to help rebuild. Be really interesting engineering coming out of both the cleanup, rebuild, and post accident analysis.

          • someguy3@lemmy.caEnglish
            2·
            9 months ago

            Cleanup will probably be Navy, rebuild will be civilian. Analysis is simple, ship lost power and hit the pier. Ships that size not sure you can do much.

        • Treczoks@lemmy.world
          2·
          9 months ago

          The “cut into pieces” will be interesting. There are a shitload of large pieces, and everything is under tension. The links between the pieces are rather large, and a good amount of them are under water. That’s going to be serious work.

        • BreakDecks@lemmy.mlEnglish
          59·
          9 months ago

          some buoyancy things

          I get the distinct impression that you have zero engineering knowledge or experience.