LAST UPDATE | 27 Mar
DIVERS HAVE RECOVERED the bodies of two people from the wreckage of the Baltimore bridge disaster.
In a press conference in the last hour, Maryland State Police superintendent Col Roland L Butler Jr said the victims were in a red truck that was submerged in 25 feet of water located close to the centre of the river.
He said that sonar scans indicate that the debris of the bridge has “encased” some of the missing vehicles which were on the crossing as it collapsed.
It has meant that divers are “no longer able to safely navigate” the port area to recover more bodies.
“We’re now moving from a recovery mode to a salvage operation” Butler Jr added.
BREAKING | Key Bridge Collapse: Col. Roland Butler with MDSP:
“Shortly before 10a they located a red pick up truck submerged in 25 feet of water. Divers recovered two victims in that vehicle.” A 35yo and 25yo. @wbaltv11 pic.twitter.com/AUYZR7x4BO— Tori Yorgey WBAL (@toriyorgeytv)
Earlier, searchers recovered data recorder from the packed cargo ship that slammed into a Baltimore bridge on Tuesday morning, causing it to collapse and leave six people presumed dead.
Emergency services are also combing through the cold waters of Baltimore harbour today in search of the bodies of six men presumed killed.
The US National Transportation Safety Board chairperson Jennifer Homendy told CNN that investigators boarded the Dali ship overnight and recovered the recorded.
Homendy said interviews with crew members will begin later today.
“With respect to those on the vessel, we will also interview fire and rescue and and people that were on the bridge as well,” she said.
Police and Coast Guard crews are today swarming the disaster site, with specialised divers scouring the river under the destroyed Francis Scott Key Bridge. Their task, however, is limited to recovering bodies.
Speaking to reporters this morning, Maryland Governor Wes Moore the “top priority” right now are the recovery efforts.
“We’ve got to bring these families closure. I promised these families that I would instruct every single asset that we have to focus on that search and rescue,” Moore said.
“Now that we’ve transitioned to the recovery phase, my promise to them is this – I will devote every single resource to making sure that you receive closure,” he said.
'Wherever the investigation leads, we will follow and make sure there is true accountability around it'
— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 27, 2024
Governor of Maryland Wes Moore has provided an update on the response to the Baltimore bridge collapse ⬇️
Latest: https://t.co/WQoY8Kr9wY
📺 Sky 501 pic.twitter.com/iw6wQWAZ46
Explaining why the efforts have transitions from rescue to recovery, US Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath told a press conference last night that ”at this point we do not believe that we’re going to find any of these individuals still alive”.
Gilreath said the Coast Guard’s reasons to believe this were based on “the length of time that we’ve gone in this search, the extensive search efforts that we put into it, the water temperature”.
“We’re going away from the search and rescue portion to a recovery operation,” said Roland Butler, Maryland’s secretary of state police.
He said the temperatures and currents were making it difficult for divers to continue working underwater, but that boats would continue patrolling overnight.
All six people were members of a nighttime construction crew who were repairing potholes on the Francis Scott Key Bridge when disaster struck not long after midnight.
Details have emerged in US media about the identities of the six men.
The Baltimore Banner reported that they were from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.
“They are all hard-working, humble men,” Jesus Campos, a colleague of the workers all employed by contractor Brawner Builders, said.
One of those now presumed dead was father-of-three Miguel Luna, according to Casa, a nonprofit that serves immigrant communities.
Video footage showed the packed container ship slamming into one of the bridge’s supports, causing the 1977-built steel structure to collapse like a deck of cards.
In dramatic scenes, police managed to stop vehicles from driving onto the bridge as soon as they received a Mayday call from the ship to warn of the impending collision.
But there was no chance to evacuate the eight men filling potholes on the road directly above the massive ship.
Officials said that two of them were pulled from the water, one of them seriously injured and the second unharmed. The other six vanished into the water.
The collapsed bridge has blocked one of the busiest US commercial harbors and Moore said this will have a “huge economic impact on the country”.
“This port is responsible for over 51 million tonnes of foreign cargo, that’s the largest in the country,” he said.
“This is not just impacting Maryland. This is impacting that farmer in Kentucky, this is impacting that auto dealer in Michigan, and so it is imperative that we get this bridge rebuilt,” Moore added.
Governor Moore said he is “overwhelmed” by the amount of outreach that Baltimore has received from governors around the US, both Democrats and Republicans.
“We really appreciate the love that’s been coming from around the country and the support,” he said.
Yesterday, Moore said that quick thinking by authorities once the ship issued a mayday call allowed them to stop vehicles from driving onto the bridge.
“These people are heroes. They saved lives last night,” he told a press conference.
The FBI and other agencies stressed that there was no known connection to terrorism.
Paul Wiedefeld, the Maryland transportation chief, said the crew working on the bridge was “basically repairing potholes, just so you understand that had nothing to do with a structural issue at all.”
US President Joe Biden called the collapse a “terrible accident,” and pledged to get the port reopened and the bridge rebuilt. Governor Moore, a rising star in the Democratic party, told CNN that the focus was now to make sure victims’ families “can find closure.”
Two of the missing workers were from Guatemala, the country’s foreign ministry said, while local news outlet The Baltimore Banner reported that Mexican, Salvadoran and Honduran nationals were also among the victims.
Includes reporting by - © AFP 2024
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