On Tuesday, March 26, tragedy struck Baltimore when the Francis Scott Key bridge was struck by a stray cargo ship. The entire bridge was destroyed, and 6 lives were lost.
This terrible event occurred during midnight on Tuesday, when a flagged cargo ship named Dali lost power about 30 minutes after its departure from the Baltimore Bay. During the ship’s stray movement, the crew notifies authorities about their “mayday”, which allows for the Maryland Transportation Authority Police to block off the highway and prevent people from crossing the bridge.
Dali was traveling 8 knots (about 9 Miles Per Hour) before it struck one of the support columns of the bridge, causing the entire bridge to collapse according to The Baltimore Sun. This event killed 6 people, all construction workers filling up potholes on the road of the bridge. 2 more people were involved, both falling into the water as the bridge was collapsed. One was injured and hospitalized, while the other was perfectly fine, but also refused treatment. The construction worker who was hospitalized is named Julio Cervantes, and he survived with only a wound on his chest.
“My husband doesn’t know how to swim. It is a miracle he survived,” Cervantes’s wife said, as interviewed from NBC News.
All of the construction workers were on break before the collapse, relaxing in their cars. A red pick-up truck was found in the water after the collapse, which contained the remains of Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera. 4 more members are currently missing, but they are presumed dead as of now.
“It’s a terrible, terrible, unforeseen tragedy,” he said. “None of us could have imagined this could happen. We are all kind of shocked and distressed.” An unnamed person says, as interviewed from The Baltimore Sun.
This event has left the entire country in a state of shock. This devastating event has come out of nowhere, and many are left in anguish and confusion. The scene is being investigated now, and soon they’ll get to the bottom of how exactly this happened.
