Here what do we know for now about the disaster:
WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED?
Operators of the cargo ship Dali issued a distress signal that the ship had lost power moments before the crash, but the ship was still heading toward the flyover at a “very, very fast speed,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said.
The 985-foot (300-meter) vessel crashed into one of the piers of the 1.6-mile (2.6-kilometer) bridge, causing the span to break and fall into the water within seconds.
Six construction workers filling potholes on the bridge were still missing Tuesday afternoon and presumed dead. Jeffrey Pritzker, executive vice president of Brawner Builders, said they were working in the middle of the span when it collapsed.
An inspection of the Dali last June in a Chilean port revealed a problem with the ship’s “propulsion and auxiliary equipment,” according to Equasis, a shipping information system. The shortage affected pressure gauges and thermometers, but was not specified in the site’s online records.
The last inspection of the Dali listed was carried out by the US Coast Guard in New York in September. According to Equasis, a “standard examination” did not reveal any deficiencies.
The ship was moving at a speed of 8 knots, which is approximately 9 miles per hour (15 km/h).
Given the sheer weight of the vessel, it hit the bridge abutment with considerable force, said Roberto Leon, an engineering professor at Virginia Tech.
“The only way to resist this pillar is to bend,” Leon said. “But it can’t absorb anywhere near the energy that this huge ship carries. That means it will break.”
Last June, federal inspectors rated the 47-year-old bridge in fair condition. However, according to experts, the structure apparently did not have support protection capable of withstanding a collapse.
“If a ship that size hits a bridge support without proper protection, there’s not much the bridge can do,” Leon said.
HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE MISSING?
Two people were rescued, but officials said six people were still missing as of late morning. Presumably, they were all members of a construction crew repairing potholes on the bridge.
Several cars also fell into the water, although authorities do not believe anyone was inside them.
The ship is owned by Singapore-based Grace Ocean Private Ltd., which said all crew members, including the two pilots, were accounted for and there were no reports of injuries.
The ship’s warning allowed authorities to restrict vehicle traffic on the flyover. Additionally, the accident occurred at 1:30 a.m., well before the busy morning rush. In 2019, the bridge carried an average of about 30,800 vehicles per day.
WHAT CAN THIS FORM?
Collapse will almost certainly create a logistics nightmare for months, if not years, in the region, halting ship traffic at the Port of Baltimore, a major shipping hub. The accident will also hamper freight and commuter traffic.
The port is a major shipping center on the East Coast. The bridge crosses the Patapsco River, which carries huge cargo ships to the Chesapeake Bay and then the Atlantic Ocean.
According to Marine Traffic, the Dali was en route from Baltimore to Colombo, Sri Lanka, flying the flag of Singapore.
President Joe Biden said Tuesday he plans to travel to Baltimore “as quickly as possible” and expects the federal government to cover all costs of rebuilding the bridge.
The collapse, however, is unlikely to have much of an impact on global trade because Baltimore is not a major port for container ships, but port capacity is more important when it comes to goods such as farm equipment and cars, Judah Levin said. Head of Research at Freightos, a global cargo booking platform.
Leon, the Virginia Tech professor, said lessons can be learned and improvements can be made from the disaster. For example, cameras and sensors on the bridge can be used to monitor a cargo ship’s deviation from course and communicate with traffic lights and gates at bridge entrances.
“I think our mission now is to learn from this failure and learn at all levels,” Leon said.
HOW OFTEN DOES THIS HAPPEN?
From 1960 to 2015, there were 35 major bridge collapses worldwide due to ship or barge collisions, killing 342 people. according to the 2018 report from the World Water Transport Infrastructure Association.
Eighteen of these collapses occurred in the United States.
Among them was a 2002 incident in which a barge crashed into the Interstate 40 bridge over the Arkansas River in Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, causing cars to fall into the water. Fourteen people were killed and 11 were injured.
And in 2001, a tugboat and barge crashed into the Queen Isabella Dam in Port Isabel, Texas, causing part of the bridge to fall 80 feet (24 meters) into the bay below. Eight people died.