Recovery efforts begin on Baltimore bridge wreckage as search for missing workers ends

The vessel was carrying 764 tons of hazardous materials, including flammables and corrosives, in 56 containers

March 28, 2024 04:24 PM

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A container ship rests against wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, as seen from Pasadena, Md. The ship rammed into the major bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday, causing it to collapse in a matter of seconds and creating a terrifying scene as several vehicles plunged into the chilly river below. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Mark Schiefelbein/AP

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Parts of the Francis Scott Key Bridge remain after a container ship collided with a support Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Baltimore. The major bridge in Baltimore snapped and collapsed after a container ship rammed into it early Tuesday, and several vehicles fell into the river below. Rescuers were searching for multiple people in the water. (WJLA via AP)

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Steve Ruark/AP

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By Summer Lin
Los Angeles Times

BALTIMORE — Authorities started cleaning up the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on Thursday after suspending the search for the remaining four missing workers, presumed dead, who fell into the water when the bridge went down.

Eight people plummeted into the cold waters of the Patapsco River after a Singaporean cargo ship struck the bridge early Tuesday, causing the 1.6-mile span to collapse. Two people were rescued; one declined treatment and the other was hospitalized in critical condition.

Officials pulled the bodies of 35-year-old Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes of Baltimore and 26-year-old Dorlian Castillo Cabrera of Dundalk, Md. , from a submerged red pickup truck near the bridge Wednesday morning, according to Col. Roland L. Butler Jr . of the Maryland State Police.

Butler said they were turning their focus to a salvage operation. Authorities halted the search for the other victims’ remains, he said, because of the dangerous conditions for the divers.

“We have exhausted all search efforts in the areas around this wreckage,” he added.

Butler said they believe the vehicles with the other victims are “encased in the superstructure and concrete that we tragically saw come down.”

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board also provided more details about the timeline right before the ship’s crash during a Wednesday evening news briefing.

Marcel Muise, the board’s investigator in charge of the investigation, said the agency recovered six hours of audio from the ship’s data recorder.

Multiple alarms were heard from the ship’s recorder at 1:24 a.m. shortly before the ship lost power, according to Muise. The pilot of the ship asked nearby tugboats for help at 1:26 a.m. At 1:27 a.m., the pilot ordered the cargo ship to drop the ship’s anchor and issued “additional steering commands.” The crash happened about 1:30 a.m.

There were 23 people aboard the vessel when it struck the bridge, including 21 crew members and two pilots, said Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, during the briefing.

The vessel was carrying 764 tons of hazardous materials, including flammables and corrosives, in 56 containers, Homendy said. Some of the containers were spotted in the water and others were “breached significantly on the vessel itself,” she said.

“It’s pretty devastating, certainly, seeing not just what’s going on with the cargo containers, but just looking at what was a bridge span — three bridge spans that is pretty much gone,” she said. “It’s just utter devastation.”

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.