Closing summary
Authorities are continuing their investigation into the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore after the Singaporean-flagged container ship Dali crashed into it on early Tuesday morning.
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Six members of a construction crew filling potholes on the bridge who were missing following the incident are now presumed dead. Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg shared his condolences with the victims’ families, saying: “Tragically, six people did lose their lives and a seventh was badly injured. These were workers who went out to work on a night shift, repairing the road service while most of us slept.”
The named victims include 49-year-old Miguel Luna from El Salvador, a husband and father of three who lived in Maryland for over 19 years, and 38-year-old Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, originally from Azacualpa in Honduras, a married father of two who had lived in the US for 18 years and launched his own maintenance business.
The foreign affairs ministry of Guatemala confirmed that two of the workers were nationals, though it did not name them. The ministry said the two people were 26 and 35, originally from San Luis, Petén, and Camotán, Chiquimula, respectively.
Three Mexican nationals were working on the bridge when it collapsed, Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Wednesday. One was rescued while alive while two others remain missing, he said. The two Mexican nationals who remain missing are originally from the states of Veracruz and Michoacán, Mexico’s foreign affairs ministry has said. A third who was rescued on Tuesday is also originally from Michoacán.
Two other construction workers were rescued. One was hospitalized at the Cowley shock trauma center in Baltimore before being later discharged.
A truck was recovered from the Patapsco River on Wednesday morning, and a memo from the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that at least one vehicle remained hanging from the metal.
Investigators with the US national transportation safety board will examine whether “dirty fuel” played a role in the giant cargo vessel losing power and crashing into the span. One reason for the blackout is contaminated fuel that can create problems with the ship’s main power generators, according to a report.
Maryland’s governor, Wes Moore, said it was “imperative” to get the port of Baltimore up and running as quickly as possible, saying its closure would have an economic impact on everyone from car dealers to farmers. Moore warned that the economic consequences of the bridge collapse “cannot be overstated and not just for the state of Maryland … we’re talking about what this means for the entire country.”
The transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, urged bipartisan support for federal funding to rebuild the bridge and reopen the port. Infrastructure should be a bipartisan issue, Buttigieg said at a news conference on Wednesday. He added that it was too soon to say how long it will take to reopen the Port of Baltimore or replace the destroyed bridge. Buttigieg said officials are focused on reopening the port, dealing with supply chain issues, rebuilding the bridge and addressing surface transportation.
The Coast Guard vice-admiral, Peter Gautier, said there is no threat to the public from any materials on board the Dali ship. Gautier, at a White House briefing on Wednesday, said the vessel is holding over 1.5m gallons of fuel, and that more than 50 of the cargo containers on board contain hazardous material, but that the ship is stable and that authorities have determined there is no safety risk.
Lawmakers in Maryland drafted an emergency bill to cover the salaries of workers who have been affected by the shutdown of the port. Details about the bill have not been disclosed yet. Bill Ferguson, the state senate president, said more 15,000 people in the region rely on daily port operations “to put food on the table”.
Singapore officials announced that they will lead their own investigation on the Key Bridge collapse. The Dali ship, which crashed into the bridge on Tuesday, was a Singapore-flagged ship traveling to Sri Lanka.
Audio has revealed dispatchers telling police to close the Francis Scott Key Bridge to all traffic because a ship had “just lost their steering”. Responders can be heard asking whether construction workers were on the bridge as police tried to halt traffic moments before the structure collapsed.
Far-right commentators have declared Tuesday’s dramatic collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge a “black swan event”, a niche phrase that has recently captured the imaginations of “deep state” conspiracy theorists who posit that a clandestine network of powerful individuals are secretly running the US government.
More than a third of US bridges are in need of repair, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association.
The state of US bridges has slowly improved in recent years, the association said, but more than 43,000 are still considered to be in poor condition and classed as “structurally deficient”, risking potential collapse.
The dangerous state of American bridges was singled out by the Biden administration as a motivator for the $1.2tn bipartisan infrastructure law signed by the US president in 2021.
The bill includes $110bn to upgrade roads and bridges, with Biden recently visiting a deteriorating bridge in Wisconsin to tout its repair via the funding.
“For decades, people talked about replacing this bridge, but it never got done. Until today,” Joe Biden said at January event. “This bridge is important, but the story we’re writing is much bigger than that.”
A certain amount of risk will remain for the foreseeable future – each day, around 167m trips are taken across structurally deficient bridges in the US.
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The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore has revived scrutiny not just of this specific structure but also the overall health of bridges across the US, many of which are considered to be in poor condition.
Some experts have pointed out that the span, completed in 1977, was conceived before an age of supersized container ships.
Andrew Barr, an expert in civil and structural engineering at the University of Sheffield, said that the bridge will “not have been designed to survive a head-on collision with such a large vessel”. He added that the Francis Scott Key Bridge did not appear to have additional protective infrastructure to buffer it from ship strikes, which have become more risky as the size and design of cargo vessels has changed over the years.
In the last decade alone, the average capacity of container ships has increased by about 50%.
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President Joe Biden has met with the secretary of transportation, Pete Buttigieg, and US Coast Guard vice-admiral Peter Gautier and spoken to Gen Scott Spellmon about the coordinated federal, state and local response to the collapse of the bridge, the White House said.
Biden also spoke with Maryland’s governor, Wes Moore, and “reiterated that his administration will be with the people of Baltimore every step of the way, a statement from the White House reads.
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The collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge could cost insurers billions of dollars in claims, according to analysts.
With little clarity on when the Port of Baltimore will reopen, insurers and analysts are assessing the likely losses borne by underwriters across several product lines including property, cargo, marine, liability, trade credit and contingent business interruption, Reuters reported.
Marcos Álvarez, managing director for global insurance ratings at Morningstar DBRS, told the agency:
Depending on the length of the blockage and the nature of the business interruption coverage for the Port of Baltimore, insured losses could total between $2bn and $4bn.
Mathilde Jakobsen, senior director of analytics at insurance ratings agency AM Best, also said the claims would likely run into “billions of dollars”.
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The two Mexican nationals who remain missing are originally from the states of Veracruz and Michoacán, Mexico’s foreign affairs ministry has said.
A third Mexican worker who was rescued on Tuesday is also originally from Michoacán and is “recovering satisfactorily from his injuries”, a statement from the ministry said.
Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, earlier today confirmed that two Mexican nationals are missing and that their families have requested privacy.
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Audio of Baltimore dispatch call released
Audio has revealed dispatchers telling police to close the Francis Scott Key Bridge to all traffic because a ship had “just lost their steering”.
Responders can be heard asking whether construction workers were on the bridge as police tried to halt traffic moments before the structure collapsed. A police officer is heard saying seconds later:
The whole bridge just fell down.
Here’s the audio clip:
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Statehouse and senate leaders in Maryland have drawn up plans for emergency legislation to cover the salaries of port workers hit by shutdowns in the wake of Tuesday’s collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, as we reported earlier.
Details about the bill, such as the extent of the aid and how it will be disbursed, have not been disclosed yet.
Bill Ferguson, president of the Maryland senate, said more than 15,000 people in the region rely on the Port of Baltimore “to put food on the table”. He stressed that time was of the essence. Until the channel to the port is cleared, “there is enormous cost to families”, he said.
An estimated 140,000 workers in the region are indirectly supported by activities at the Port of Baltimore, which is the ninth busiest port in the US, which had more than $80bn in imports and exports in 2023. It is a major port for coal exports, automobiles and parts.
Carnival Cruise Line said it was temporarily moving their Baltimore operations to Norfolk, Virginia, for the duration of rescue efforts and cleanup.
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The US secretary of transportation Pete Buttigieg responded to a question about whether Republicans could hold up attempts to fund bridge reconstruction if Biden were to tap Congress for assistance:
“Infrastructure is, or at least ought to be, a bipartisan priority. I know that partisanship has gotten in the way of some important functions and expenditures, but I would also note that the infrastructure package that was passed is known as the bipartisan infrastructure law for a reason,” Buttigieg said.
Buttigieg added that some Republicans “crossed the aisle” to support the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
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Buttigieg noted that a private company could be held financially “accountable” for the bridge collapse, though did not expand on how much that could mean.
“Any private party that is found responsible and liable will be held accountable,” Buttigieg said, though did not detail what possible consequences could look like.
Buttigieg added that Biden’s commitment to funding the bridge is to prevent Baltimore and Maryland more broadly from having to wait for financial resources needed for bridge reconstruction.
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The crew remains on board the Dali ship, the Coast Guard vice-admiral Peter Gautier said.
“The crew is cooperating with what we need,” he said.
The crew is predominately made up of Indian nationals with one person from Sri Lanka, Gautier added.
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Buttigieg said that he was unsure of how long it would take to rebuild the Key bridge or how much it would cost to rebuild, noting that the original bridge took five years to construct.
“We need to get a sense of the conditions … we just don’t know yet, especially in terms of their foundational infrastructure,” he said of the extent of damage to the bridge.
Buttigieg also added that he is unsure when the Port of Baltimore may be able to reopen.
“The vast majority of the port is inside of that bridge, which means most of it cannot operate,” Buttigieg said.
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Authorities trying to remove ship, but crude oil and other hazardous materials on board
The Coast Guard vice-admiral Peter Gautier confirmed that authorities are attempting to remove the vessel from the area, but said it has crude oil and other hazardous materials on board.
Gautier said during the White House press briefing that 1.5m gallons of oil are on the Dali ship as are at least 56 cargo containers of “hazardous materials”.
The cargo containers are not a threat to the public or in the water, the US Coast Guard representative said.
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Buttigieg added that the death toll from the Key Bridge accident could have been much higher, if not for several factors.
Buttigieg highlighted the efforts of emergency responders, the mayday call from the ship, and other factors as preventing the death toll from increasing “in the dozens”.
“If not for several factors, including those responders’ efforts, the mayday call, the maintenance closure that was already underway, and the time of day of this impact, the loss of life might have been in the dozens,” Buttigieg said.
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Buttigieg did not speculate about what any investigation might find, but added that the bridge was not meant to withstand a direct hit from a vast cargo ship.
“What we do know is a bridge like this one, completed in the 1970s, was simply not made to withstand a direct impact … from a vessel that weighs about 200m pounds,” he said.
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Buttigieg has declined to comment on the direct investigation being led by the US Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board.
“I will respect their independence and not comment on that work,” Buttigieg said of the investigation, adding that he has engaged with those officials at the accident site.
Buttigieg emphasized that the work ahead involves re-opening the bridge as well as managing local and national economic impacts.
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Buttigieg: 'Tragically, six people lost their lives'
At the top of his remarks, Buttigieg shared his condolences with the families who have lost loved ones in the Key Bridge accident.
“Tragically, six people did lose their lives and a seventh was badly injured,” Buttigieg said.
“These were workers who went out to work on a night shift, repairing the road service while most of us slept,” he added.
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White House spokesperson says 'our hearts go out to the families'
The White House press briefing featuring Pete Buttigieg and a US Coast Guard representative has just begun.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre gave a brief update at the top of the conference:
“Our hearts go out to the families of the six individuals still missing after yesterday’s bridge collapse in Maryland … operations have shifted from a search-and-rescue operation to recovery efforts,” Jean-Pierre said.
President Biden has been briefed on the collapse, Jean-Pierre said, adding that he has pledged to “move heaven and earth to aid in the emergency response and help rebuild the bridge as soon as humanly possible”.
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The brother of a missing construction worker who was on the collapsed Key Bridge told CNN en Español that he was still hopeful that his brother would be found.
Carlos Suazo Sandoval told the network that his brother, 38-year-old Maynor Suazo Sandoval, was applying asphalt when the bridge collapsed early Tuesday morning.
Maynor, who is a Honduran national, is one of six people still unaccounted for.
“We still have faith until this moment, God grant the miracle, it would be beautiful,” Carlos said to CNN on Wednesday.
Carlos added that his family is still processing the tragic accident and has not informed Maynor’s 72-year-old mother, who is in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
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Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg and a representative of the US Coast Guard are set to speak at the White House press briefing scheduled for 1.00pm.
A livestream of the press conference is available at the top of this blog.
Stay tuned for updates!
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Singapore officials announced on Wednesday that they will lead their own investigation into the Key Bridge collapse, Associated Press reported.
The Dali ship, which crashed into the bridge on Tuesday, was a Singapore-flagged ship traveling to Sri Lanka.
Singapore’s Transport Safety Investigation Bureau will independently investigate the accident.
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said it will also assist the US Coast Guard with its investigation and is working with the ship’s management company to get additional information.
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An inspection of the Dali ship last year turned up a problem with the fuel heater’s pressure gauges, according to the maritime authority of the Chilean navy.
The problem was corrected before the ship left the Chilean port, AP reported, citing the Chilean navy.
Previous reports had indicated the June inspection of the vessel in Chile identified a problem with the ship’s “propulsion and auxiliary machinery”, it said.
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No divers in water yet amid treacherous conditions due to shifting debris
No divers have entered the water at the scene of the wreckage of the collapsed bridge yet, according to officials.
Supervisory special agent Brian Hudson, the program manager for the FBI’s underwater search and evidence response team told NBC News:
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 … It’s dark, so we’re not getting great camera footage from our ROV footage, but the sonar still shows up very well.
He added that the team has marked some “interesting targets” but it is not clear when divers will be able to enter the water.
FBI Supervisory Special Agent Brian Hudson explains to @LlamasNBC the challenge ahead for divers after the Dali hit the Key Bridge in Baltimore.
— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) March 27, 2024
"No the divers won’t be able to see anything. They’re going to work by feel with their hands" and using sonar technology.
More… pic.twitter.com/xuemmzgOgO
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Investigators to examine whether 'dirty fuel' played role in collision
An investigation into the bridge collapse will include whether “dirty fuel” played a role in the giant cargo vessel losing power and crashing into the span, according to a report.
The Dali ship appeared to have suffered a total power failure as all its lights went out in the early hours on Tuesday. About a minute later, the ship’s lights flickered back on, before going dark again.
One reason for the blackout is contaminated fuel that can create problems with the ship’s main power generators, according to a naval architect.
A complete blackout could result in a ship losing propulsion, Fotis Pagoulatos told the Wall Street Journal.
National transportation safety board chair Jennifer Homendy said her team of investigators will look into the suggestion that contaminated fuel may have played a role in the crash.
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Maryland’s governor, Wes Moore, said it was “imperative” to get the port of Baltimore up and running as quickly as possible, saying its closure would have an economic impact on everyone from car dealers to farmers.
The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge is disrupting a vital shipping port which Moore said was responsible for 51m tonnes of foreign cargo.
Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador said at a news conference the bridge collapse showed how migrant workers in the US often take risky jobs.
López Obrador confirmed that two of the missing workers were from Mexican. A third was rescued and is now safe, he said. He added:
This demonstrates that migrants go out and do risky jobs at midnight, and for this reason they do not deserve to be treated as they are by certain insensitive, irresponsible politicians in the United States.
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Two Mexican workers missing after bridge collapse, says Mexico's president
Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has confirmed that three Mexican nationals were among the workers on the Francis Scott Key Bridge when it collapsed.
Two of the Mexican workers are missing. The third was injured and rescued, he said.
López Obrador, speaking at a press conference today, said he would not reveal the names of the workers because their families had asked authorities to handle that information with caution.
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The Maryland flag has been lowered to half staff, the state’s governor Wes Moore has said.
Posting to social media, Moore said “the hearts of every Marylander are with the families of those affected” by the collapse of the bridge.
The Maryland flag has been lowered to half staff.
— Governor Wes Moore (@GovWesMoore) March 27, 2024
Our entire state is grateful for the tireless work of our first responders and everyone who has stepped up to serve in the past 24 hours. Maryland is strong and has risen to meet this moment as the work continues today.
The hearts of every Marylander are with the families of those affected by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
— Governor Wes Moore (@GovWesMoore) March 27, 2024
We have spoken to the families, prayed with them, and assured them that our state will mobilize every resource to bring them closure.
Far-right commentators have declared Tuesday’s dramatic collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge a “black swan event”, a niche phrase that has recently captured the imaginations of “deep state” conspiracy theorists.
“Nothing is safe,” wrote manosphere influencer Andrew Tate on X, about six hours after a container ship collided with the bridge. “Black Swan Event imminent.”
“This is a BLACK SWAN event,” asserted Gen Mike Flynn, Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, on X. Others, including Benny Johnson, Laura Loomer and some verified QAnon-affiliated accounts, also latched on to the “black swan event” language, many claiming that the collapse was terrorism related.
“Looks deliberate to me. A cyber-attack is probable. WW3 has already started,” wrote Infowars’ Alex Jones on X.
Officials do not believe the said that the crash was terrorism-related or intentional; some theorized that the ship “lost propulsion”, causing it to veer off course.
The phrase “black swan event” was popularized in 2001 by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a Lebanese American statistician and essayist, to describe unforeseen happenings in the financial world with cascading consequences, such as the 2000 dot-com crash. He later extended his metaphor in the context of historical or significant national security events.
In recent months, conspiracy theorists have hijacked the concept and folded it into deep state narratives, which posit that a clandestine network of powerful individuals are secretly running the US government.
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Maryland lawmakers are drafting emergency legislation to help workers affected by the bridge collapse.
Maryland state senator Bill Ferguson, in a social media post, said he is proposing income replacement for the thousands of workers who “rely on daily operations at Port of Baltimore to put food on the table”. He added:
The human cost of lives lost yesterday is overwhelming and tragic. The economic and stability loss to the thousands impacted in the days ahead cannot be understated.
Over 15,000 in the Balt region rely on daily operations at Port of Baltimore to put food on the table.
— Bill Ferguson (@SenBillFerg) March 27, 2024
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.
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Truck recovered from water - report
A truck has been recovered from the water, AP reported, citing a law enforcement official.
At least one vehicle remains hanging from the metal, according to a memo by homeland security, it said.
Maryland governor Wes Moore said that the economic consequences of the bridge collapse “cannot be overstated and not just for the state of Maryland.”
Moore told Today:
We’re talking about what this means for the entire country. We’re talking about a port that brings on more cars more light trucks, more agricultural equipment than any other port in this country. So this is not just going to impact Maryland. We’re talking about farmers in Kentucky. We’re talking about auto dealers in Michigan.
The governor of Maryland, Wes Moore, said he was able to spend time with the family members of the construction workers who were on the bridge at the time of the collapse.
Speaking to Today, Moore said he made a commitment to those families that “we would put every possible resource” towards a search and rescue mission, adding:
Now that we’ve transitioned to a recovery mission, I’m going to make sure that we’re going to put every possible resource to bring a sense of closure to these families.
He also paid tribute to the first responders who saved “countless” lives by getting cars off the bridge, adding that he was “incredibly thankful” for their work.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore joins TODAY and says he was able to spend time with the families of victims of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, six construction workers who are now presumed dead. pic.twitter.com/zSXoXpY59q
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) March 27, 2024
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The city of Baltimore remains in a state of emergency as rescue efforts continue for the six missing construction workers, Baltimore mayor Brandon Scott said.
Speaking to CNN, Scott said:
There’s still a state of emergency. We will have that for the foreseeable future. This is an unthinkable tragedy that impacts our city and our community and our state in so many different and ways.
He acknowledged the work ahead to reopen the port of Baltimore, but said his concentration remains on the recovery efforts.
We’re all, right now, still focused on recovery. That’s what we’re talking about today – recovering those who we lost.
Mexico confirms some of the missing workers are Mexican
The Mexican embassy in Washington has confirmed that some of the six missing construction workers are Mexican.
In a social media post late Tuesday, the embassy said:
There are six workers missing, including Mexican, Guatemalan and Salvadoran people. The authorities will resume search work tomorrow.
🚨Actualización relacionada con el colapso del puente en Baltimore, MD:
— Consulmex Washington (@ConsulMexWas) March 27, 2024
✅ Hay seis trabajadores desparecidos, incluidas personas mexicanas, guatemaltecas y salvadoreñas. Las autoridades reanudarán mañana los trabajos de búsqueda. #EstamosParaServir
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A retired Coast Guard officer has said he expects the focus in Baltimore to shift to two main objectives: investigating what happened and reopening the channel as quickly and safely as possible.
Divers and remote equipment will likely be used to survey debris on the channel floor both as part of the investigation and in preparation for clearing the channel, Aaron Davenport, a senior researcher with the Rand corporation, told AP.
Heavy-duty barges and cranes will be needed for the salvage operations, he said. Officials also will need to assess damage to the ship. Davenport continued:
We have this big, giant ship. You don’t want the ship to sink. You don’t want it to leak fuel oil all over the port.
The ship will eventually likely be towed back to port and the cargo offloaded, he added.
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Jesús Campos, a construction worker, said he knew the missing crew members and that they were all from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico.
“It’s a difficult situation,” he said, speaking through a translator.
My friends were working on that bridge.
Campos said the men all worked for the construction company, Brawner Builders, where he himself had worked for eight months – including on the overnight shift, until he was transferred to daytime hours one month ago.
He said the workers were low-income immigrants who used their wages to support family members in the US and abroad.
Jesus Campos, a construction worker who knows the crew, said the men were from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico. They are in their 30s and 40s and have spouses and children.
— clara longo de freitas (@claralfreitas) March 26, 2024
“They are hard-working, humble men,” he said.
More updates to come for @BaltimoreBanner. pic.twitter.com/dhMoFTiU7I
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Father of three among six victims
The six likely victims of the Baltimore bridge collapse on Tuesday all appeared to be construction workers originally from Latin American countries, according to reports, including a father of three, Miguel Luna, as authorities said they had recovered the black box recorder from the ship.
The immigrant services non-profit We Are Casa confirmed that Luna, 49 and originally from El Salvador, had lived in Maryland for at least 19 years.
“He is a husband, a father of three, and has called Maryland his home for over 19 years,” its executive director, Gustavo Torres, said in a statement. Luna’s son Marvin told the Washington Post he knew his father was on the bridge but he had not heard of the tragedy until friends called him.
The foreign affairs ministry of Guatemala confirmed that two of the workers were nationals, though it did not name them. It said the Guatemalan consul general had spoken with family members.
The Associated Press also reported one of the men, Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, was from Honduras.
A correspondent for Reforma reported that a Mexican embassy spokesperson in Washington said one of the victims was a Mexican national and that two others were from Guatemala and El Salvador.
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Recovery efforts for the six unaccounted for people have resumed at the collapse site.
Divers returned to the site early this morning after challenging overnight conditions improved.
Investigation 'going to take some time', says NTSB chair
Asked about reports that contaminated fuel may have played a part in the crash, National transportation safety board chair (NTSB) Jennifer Homendy said it was “way too early” and that investigators will “certainly look at that” as part of their efeforts.
She said her team would conduct a “thorough, comprehensive, holistic investigation” covering everything from maintenance to fire rescue operations, adding:
This is going to take some time. There’s going to be a lot of information.
NTSB Chair @JenniferHomendy tells @tonydokoupil that her agency is working to collect evidence and conduct interviews after the horrific collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge — but she stressed that the investigation “is going to take some time." pic.twitter.com/kK0ud5LGLI
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) March 27, 2024
The chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and a team of investigators are expected to board the Dali ship later today to interview crew members and gather evidence.
Jennifer Homendy, speaking to Good Morning America, said investigators are combing through the ship’s data recorder in an attempt to recreate a timeline of Tuesday’s crash. She said:
We do have a download from the voyage data recorder that we’ve sent back to our lab to evaluate the data and begin to construct a timeline of events, which we hope to have later today.
“We aren’t looking at the structure today,” she added:
We will be boarding the vessel at some point today to begin to look at the devastation really, and then look through the vessel itself.
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Divers have retrieved the ship’s data recorder, or black box, which investigators hope will develop a timeline of events leading up to the crash.
The US national transportation safety board confirmed that its crew went aboard the ship to recorder the data recorder from the Dali.
Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg also told CNN that if private companies are to blame for the bridge collapse, they will be held to account.
CNN quotes him as saying:
To be clear: if any private party is responsible and accountable for this, then they will be held accountable. But we can’t wait for that to play out to get to work right now.
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The US transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, warned of “major and protracted impact to supply chains” following the closure of the Port of Baltimore for the foreseeable future after Tuesday’s catastrophic bridge collapse, though some experts said the impact was likely to be targeted to particular regions and industries.
Spanning more than 2km and with four lanes of traffic, the Francis Scott Key Bridge – a vital artery in Baltimore’s industrial heartland – took nine years to plan and almost five to build, but came down in under a minute after being struck by a cargo ship in the early hours of Tuesday.
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Recovery efforts 'top priority' as authorities recover black box from container ship
Rescuers are focusing on finding six people presumed dead on Wednesday morning after the Baltimore Key Bridge collapsed on Tuesday, as authorities said they had recovered the black box recorder from the ship.
Maryland governor Wes Moore told a press conference that recovery of the victims was a “top priority”. He said:
The top priority right now is still the recovery … I will instruct every single asset that we have, air land and water. My promise to [the families] is this: I will devote every single resource to making sure that you receive closure.
Baltimore’s mayor Brandon Scott told CNN on Wednesday morning:
That work is already dangerous, but will be even more so today, with the expected rain, the choppy waters and we all know about the debris and other things that they’ll be dealing with.
The six likely victims of the Baltimore bridge collapse on Tuesday all appeared to be construction workers from Latin American countries, according to reports, including a father of three, Miguel Luna, from El Salvador.
The immigrant services non-profit We Are Casa confirmed that Luna, 40, had lived in Maryland for at least 19 years.
“He is a husband, a father of three, and has called Maryland his home for over 19 years,” its executive director, Gustavo Torres, said in a statement. Luna’s son Marvin told the Washington Post he knew his father was on the bridge but he had not heard of the tragedy until friends called him.
The foreign affairs ministry of Guatemala confirmed that two of the workers were nationals, though it did not name them. It said the Guatemalan consul general had spoken with family members.
The Associated Press also reported one of the men, Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, was from Honduras.
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