BALTIMORE — The search for six missing construction workers was called off Tuesday evening, roughly 18 hours after a massive cargo ship toppled the Francis Scott Key Bridge in a crash that sent several people and vehicles into the Patapsco River.
U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath said search teams believe the six people are dead given the low water temperatures and the length of time after the 1:30 a.m. collision Tuesday.
The Coast Guard said the search is moving to a recovery operation. Col. Roland L. Butler Jr., secretary of Maryland State Police, added that the cold waters and little visibility have made the operation too dangerous for first responders and divers.
“At this point, we do not know where they are. But we intend to give it our best effort to help these families find closure,” Col. Butler said at a Tuesday evening press briefing.
National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said the agency will investigate the integrity of the bridge, the history and condition of the freighter, as well as how quickly the crew reacted to the malfunction that caused the Dali to drift into one of the bridge’s support columns.
Maritime authorities in Singapore, where the container ship is registered, said the crew released the anchor in an attempt to slow the ship’s momentum.
It wasn’t enough to stop the 985-foot-long vessel from taking out the steel center of the bridge, causing eight construction workers to fall into the chilly waters below.
The temperature in the river was about 47 degrees in the early hours of Tuesday, according to a buoy that collects data for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Two workers were pulled from the water shortly after the bridge went down around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. One was briefly hospitalized in critical condition but was released before noon.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said the ship’s crew issued a “mayday” alert to port authorities moments before it collided with the Key Bridge.
The emergency call helped stop some traffic from crossing the bridge just before it collapsed and perhaps averting a worse catastrophe.
From a vantage point near the entrance to the bridge, jagged remnants of its steel frame were visible protruding from the water, with the on-ramp ending abruptly where the span once began.
No crew members aboard the Sri Lanka-bound freighter were killed.
The sudden collapse of the Key Bridge not only snarled traffic on the southeast side of Interstate 695, commonly known as the Baltimore Beltway, but also hampered operations at the Port of Baltimore, from which the cargo ship had just departed.
Traffic and port operations will remain affected indefinitely as the cleanup and rebuilding of the bridge proceeds.
Federal, state and local officials promised swift action and funding to restore the 47-year-old bridge to its former utility.
At a White House briefing, President Biden said he plans to travel to Baltimore “as quickly as I can,” adding that the federal government will cover the entire cost of rebuilding the bridge.
“This is going to take some time,” Mr. Biden said. “The people of Baltimore can count on us, though, to stick with them at every step of the way until the port is reopened and the bridge is rebuilt.”
Mr. Moore and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott declared a state of emergency to concentrate resources to the bridge site. About 31,000 vehicles each day use the bridge, which carries Interstate 695 over the Patapsco River in its trip around Baltimore.
The loss of the Key Bridge is a massive obstacle for regular users such as Jennifer Kaufman.
The property manager who commutes from her home near Dundalk to her job in Linthicum Heights said her daily drive will go from 20 minutes to now closer to an hour.
She said it’s just as bad for her boyfriend, a truck driver who uses the bridge as a quick way to bypass city traffic.
“It’s really unbelievable. I take the bridge every day. It’s surreal, like, I don’t even know. It gives me chills to even think of it,” Ms. Kaufman told The Washington Times. “Seven hours before that we were coming over the bridge, coming home from work. And now it’s in the water.”
The collision itself rocked nearby neighborhoods such as Carnegie.
Georgiann Lundy was distraught while looking out at the wreckage from her riverfront home.
“I thought it was an earthquake. Everything shook in my house,” Ms. Lundy, a 10-year resident of the neighborhood, told The Times. “It’s a nightmare.”
Retired police officer Richard Majewski said he was out walking his dog when he heard a “loud boom” come from the direction of the bridge. He figured it was just another bad accident until he saw emergency vehicles swarm the area.
Surveillance video of the Key Bridge showed the Dali’s lights flickering until it made impact with the bridge’s support beam.
There were several cars on the bridge when it was destroyed, but the governor said the exact number of cars and how many were occupied is still under investigation.
Rescue team sonars have detected vehicles in the water below.
“To the victims of this tragedy and their loved ones — all of our hearts are broken,” Mr. Moore said. “We feel your loss. We’re thinking of you and we will always be thinking of you.”
Baltimore City Fire Department Chief James Wallace said earlier that more people could be missing as officials didn’t know how many vehicles went under following the collision.
A member of Baltimore County’s Volunteer Fire Department, who was one of the first responders to the scene early Tuesday, told the Times that 11 construction workers and 13 vehicles went under when the bridge collapsed.
Kevin Cartwright, director of communications for the Baltimore Fire Department, called the crash a “developing mass casualty event” early Tuesday. He added that one of the vehicles was said to be a tractor-trailer-sized vehicle.
Mr. Cartwright said some cargo appeared to be dangling from the bridge, a vital artery that, along with the Port of Baltimore, is a hub for shipping on the East Coast.
Opened in 1977, the bridge is named for the writer of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The ship was flying a Singapore flag but was chartered by Danish company Maersk. It was being operated by charter vessel company Synergy Group.
In 2001, a freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed in a tunnel in downtown Baltimore and caught fire, spewing black smoke into surrounding neighborhoods and forcing officials to temporarily close all major roads into the city.
• Maria Stainer contributed to this article, which is based in part on wire service reports.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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