Francis Scott Key Bridge: Bad weather and debris make recovery work difficult

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Collapse after collision with a ship: the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore

Photo: Petty Officer 3rd Class Kimberly Reaves / AP

After a highway bridge collapsed in Baltimore, adverse conditions made recovery work difficult. Because of the bad weather and the rubble, it has not yet been possible to send divers back into the water, said the governor of the US state of Maryland, Wes Moore, in an interview with the US broadcaster CNN on Sunday. It is an “incredibly complicated situation”.

Several people were killed

On Tuesday night (local time), a container ship rammed a support pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge and caused the more than 2.5 kilometer long, four-lane highway bridge to collapse. Several people were killed. The bodies of two men have already been recovered from a pickup truck in seven meters of water, and the search is still ongoing for four missing people. Authorities believe the men are dead. According to the information, these were construction workers of Latin American origin who were repairing potholes on the bridge at the time of the accident.

Since the collision, the steel frame of the bridge has blocked passage from the port of Baltimore, and the damaged ship "Dali" is also still at the scene of the accident. Work has begun to clear the debris field in the water - this involves, among other things, cutting through the massive steel beams of the destroyed bridge and lifting them out of the way using cranes. The aim is to initially create a temporary canal through which additional boats can reach the scene of the accident for rescue and clean-up work.

It is still unclear how long seaside access to the port will remain closed following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. According to the responsible authorities, it will probably take a long time until the port of Baltimore can be reached again. "A ship almost as big as the Eiffel Tower is stuck in the canal and the Key Bridge is on top of it," Moore emphasized on CNN on Sunday. "So it's going to be a long road."

jpa/dpa