The power of the emergency represented by the mayday.
That a tragedy could have been much worse is an oft-repeated phrase. It's rarely as accurate, though, as what happened Monday morning on Baltimore's largest bridge, the Francis Scotte Key, which collapsed after being hit by a large cargo ship containers
Rescue teams continued to search the Patapscoa River for six people who, at first glance, were missing after the bridge collapsed, which collapsed like dominoes. Two more were found alive, one went home, as she had no injuries, and another had to be admitted to a hospital.
It is not ruled out that there could be more victims. But the disaster could have been much worse. The cause of the accident has not been determined, although the possibility of an attack was ruled out, according to Governor Wes Moore, the ship lost propulsion and became unmanageable.
The emergency signal made it easier for those responsible at the head of the bridge to decree its closure and prevent the passage of vehicles. This quick decision made it easier for many cars not to access it and be saved from falling into the river.
"They are true heroes, they have saved many lives", emphasized the governor regarding the closure of access.
The ship's lights flickered and it turned its course, which brought it straight into the infrastructure pillar. From the control room they sent a mayday, an emergency signal, about a possible collision just a few minutes before the impact. All the crew got out safe and sound. His testimony will be essential to determine what happened to cause the ship to suffer the traction problem.
An inspection of the ship, named Dali, carried out last year in a port in Chile revealed that it had a deficiency related to propulsion and auxiliary machinery. In that review, carried out on June 27 at the port of San Antonio, it was specified that the defect was specifically due to the gauges and thermometers.
At the time of the impact there was a group of workers on the bridge fixing potholes. Six of these workers are the ones who are considered missing and who are trying to find the teams of divers. Despite the mayday, they continued to repair the asphalt. Their cars, parked nearby, also fell into the river. The drones, sonar and infrared devices detected seven vehicles at depth by head down.
Those artifacts showed a large amount of twisted metal and debris, making it unsafe for divers to enter where debris from the disaster is piling up, Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks said on social media , which includes the affected area.
Another of the most relevant and highly influential problems in the rescue was that the waters in the area of the accident were at a temperature classified as dangerous for people to dive into.
The incident was captured on dramatic video that showed smoke billowing from the ship as the bridge and highway collapsed. In the broadcast, cars and trucks are seen on the bridge minutes before it fell, an indication that they were denied access. The ship did not sink, the lights stayed on, and none of the crew were injured.
The fact that smoke could be seen coming from the ship in the final moments before the impact was considered by experts as the demonstration that the ship had regained propulsion, although it was too late to correct the course.
She was traveling at a speed of eight knots, not excessive in open seas, but yes in this context, which prevented her from having enough room to brake in time or alter the route.
The ship is 300 meters long, the equivalent of three football fields. Singapore flag carrier. It was en route to Colombo (Sri Lanka) and began to change course towards the pillar around 1:26 am (US East Coast Time). The crash was registered just two minutes later.
The bridge was almost two miles long and spans Interstate 695, southeast of the Baltimore metropolitan area. It is one of the busiest routes, around 35,000 cars pass it daily, including that of the governor, who traveled to go to the office. "That it has disappeared is something that makes me tremble", he said.
President Joe Biden appeared to offer solidarity and support to the victims, to reassure the country - everything indicates that it was a terrible accident and there is no reason to believe that it was intentional" - and to promise the Government's generosity to face the reconstruction of a key infrastructure. It is essential for the port of Baltimore, one of the most important in the US (generates more than 3.3 billion a year and 15,000 direct jobs), the main in the transport of vehicles (850,000 a year), and is also a ground connection axis. "I have asked my team to move heaven and earth to rebuild the bridge as soon as possible," he said with a plea to Congress for infrastructure funding.
The United States has a problem with the aging of these infrastructures. There have been several accidents (the one in 2007 in Minneapolis was the most serious, resulting in 13 deaths), but not the case of Francis Scott Key (author of the national anthem), which dates from 1977. Some engineers they pointed out yesterday that it was a vulnerable bridge due to structure and design.
