The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, in the United States, collapsed on March 26 after a container ship rammed into one of its pillars, sending cars plunging into the Patapsco River.
Officials said the crash occurred when the ship experienced a power failure early on March 26, causing it to ram into the four-lane bridge. The ship was identified as the Dali, a Singapore-flagged container ship. The vessel’s registered owner is Grace Ocean and its manager is Synergy Marine Group.
The crash resulted in people and vehicles falling into the cold river. Six are presumed dead after emergency workers suspended search efforts. Those missing, believed to be part of a construction crew, were conducting repair work on the bridge when the accident occurred.
How it happened
Loaded with shipping containers, the Dali departs from Baltimore’s port bound for Colombo, Sri Lanka, at 1.04 am local time (1.04pm Singapore time).
At 1.24am, the container vessel slowly approaches the bridge, according to video footage captured by StreamTime Live. Seconds later, the Dali suffers a total power failure as all its lights go out before flashing back on again. Black smoke starts rising from the ship as it nears the bridge’s pillar.
According to the New York Times, the ship appears to change heading and nears the pillar at 1.27am. Moments before the accident, the ship’s crew notify the Maryland Department of Transportation that they have lost control of the vessel and that a crash with the bridge was possible.
At 1.28am, the 95,000 gross ton container vessel ploughs into the bridge’s pylon.
The impact causes the entire truss span of the bridge to collapse in less than 30 seconds, sending cars and people plunging into the river’s cold waters below.
Ship manager Synergy reported that just before the crash, the Dali experienced a “momentary loss of propulsion”, and was unable to maintain its desired direction and hit the bridge, said the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).
The Dali dropped its anchors as part of the vessel’s emergency procedures before the crash, added MPA. The ship was under pilotage during the incident, meaning a pilot was on hand to navigate the vessel.
Source: The New York Times
The ship issued a mayday call moments before the crash, a move which saved lives as officials were able to halt some road traffic, said Maryland Governor Wes Moore.
The ship had been involved in at least one prior accident, when it struck a shipping pier in Belgium in 2016, USA Today reported.
The bridge didn’t stand a chance against the massive ship
At about 300m long, 24.8m tall and with a gross tonnage of 95,000 tons, the Dali is a massive vessel – longer than four Boeing 747 airplanes lined up nose to tail, according to NBC News.
PHOTO: THE NEW YORK TIMES
Civil and systems engineering professor Ben Schafer from Johns Hopkins University told CBS News that the massive ship — not the condition of the Francis Scott Key Bridge — was likely to blame for the bridge’s collapse.
As the container ship was “as wide as it was as tall” and was of similar scale to the bridge, the bridge could not sustain the amount of energy caused by the impact.
US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said he does not know of any bridge that can withstand a direct impact from a vessel this size.
A vital gateway
The Francis Scott Key Bridge spans 2.57km and sits 56m above the Patapsco River. It was opened in 1977 and was built at an estimated cost of US$110 million (S$148 million). It is the main thoroughfare for drivers between New York and Washington who seek to avoid downtown Baltimore and handles 31,000 cars per day, or 11.3 million vehicles a year.