Wed, 27 Mar 2024 21:34:24 -0400
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The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) held a press conference Wednesday evening to provide an update on the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge.
NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said the Singaporean-flagged cargo ship, the Dali, had been carrying 56 containers of hazardous materials on board, including corrosive flammable cells, lithium ion batteries, and other hazardous materials.
Some of the hazmat containers were breached, and a sheen was identified in the water that will be dealt with by the authorities.
Homendy said the voyage data recorder (VDR) has been recovered. NTSB investigator Marcel Muise said the VDR contains information from midnight to approximately 6 a.m.
Homendy said the investigation would be a “massive undertaking” that is expected two take one to two years. She added that the NTSB will not hesitate to issue urgent safety recommendations during that time frame. A preliminary report is expected in only two to four weeks.
Part of the investigation will be determining what caused the ship to lose power before hitting the bridge. The source of that outage remained unknown as of Wednesday, Homendy said.
Homendy said tugboats were called to help the vessel leave the port and get to the main channel. The vessel does not have any tugboats at this time. Homendy confirmed that vessel did not have any tugboats helping it navigate through the waters before it hit the bridge. The VDR showed that the pilot called for tugboats just before 1:30 a.m. after the vessel hit the bridge.
The NTSB has confirmed that there were 21 crewmembers on board the vessel at the time of the accident plus two pilots.
Thu, 28 Mar 2024 07:33:48 -0400
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Moments before the Singapore cargo ship Dali crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, a pilot made a radio call for tugboats.
Tugboats are small ships that assist larger vessels by pushing or pulling them with direct contact or a tow line. Their purpose is to guide ships into and out of harbors to prevent accidents like the Baltimore bridge collapse.
So why didn't tugboats help on Tuesday, when the Dali struck a support pier on the Key Bridge, causing it to fall into the Patapsco River?
Cargo ships entering and exiting the Baltimore harbor are guided by tugboats that flank the ship on each side while a Chesapeake Bay pilot on board assist the ship's bridge and captain with navigational commands, according to the Baltimore Banner.
"Ship tracking data from marinetraffic.com showed the Dali was headed toward the Key Bridge unaccompanied when it crashed into the bridge early Tuesday morning," the paper reported.
"Two tugboats, both operated by McAllister Towing and Transportation, helped the Dali out of the dock between 12:30 a.m. and 1 a.m. Those tugboats left the cargo ship around 1:09 a.m. The Dali begins veering right and away from the main channel at 1:25 a.m., four minutes and 23 seconds before it struck the bridge."
Those tugboats, the Eric McAllister and Bridget McAllister, were then the first to respond after the Dali crashed into the bridge, ship tracking data showed, according to the Baltimore Banner.
It is common practice for tugboats to break away before the bridge. But on Tuesday, the Dali lost power and propulsion shortly after they did so, and by then it was too late to stop the accident.
Thu, 28 Mar 2024 06:49:18 -0400
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Carnival Corporation said Wednesday the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Maryland could have a negative effect on its full-year earnings.
The cruise line operator told shareholders it could see a "current estimated impact of up to $10 million on both adjusted EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] and adjusted net income for the full year 2024."
The bridge fell into the Patapsco River near Baltimore early Tuesday morning. Its collapse stemmed from a large container ship striking one of its support columns.
The nearby Port of Baltimore has experienced some disruptions due to the Francis Scott Key Bridge incident, halting vessel traffic "until further notice" though it said Tuesday. "Trucks are being processed within our marine terminals" still.
Carnival, which sails out of the Baltimore port for certain cruises, said it did not incorporate the $10 million estimated impact in its 2024 outlook "given the timing of yesterday’s event in Baltimore and the temporary change in homeport." It also reported seeing "record" first quarter revenues of $5.4 billion and a smaller net loss of $214 million.
Just a day earlier, the company temporarily switched the homeport of its Carnival Legend ship to Norfolk, Virginia, amid the ongoing situation in Baltimore.
"Fortunately, our teams quickly secured a temporary homeport in Norfolk for as long as it's needed, which should help to minimize operational changes," CEO Josh Weinstein told analysts and investors on Tuesday. "We look forward to getting back to our home in Baltimore as soon as possible."
FOX Business' Aislinn Murphy contributed to this update.
Thu, 28 Mar 2024 06:11:26 -0400
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It didn't take long for The Washington Post to revisit the history of "controversial poet" Francis Scott Key, whose namesake bridge suffered a devastating collapse in Baltimore.
All eyes were on Charm City early Tuesday morning after a cargo ship crashed into a support beam of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Six construction workers who were on the bridge at the time are presumed dead and two were rescued from the Patapsco River. An investigation is underway.
But roughly 24 hours later, The Post insisted Key himself was "at the center of renewed public attention" because the bridge named after him collapsed.
"The incident has shaken Baltimore and brought Key once again to the fore," The Post wrote Wednesday.
The Post offered a biographical history lesson of Key, a lawyer famous for writing what's now known as "The Star-Spangled Banner."
But as the paper noted in its previous report about Key published in 2020 following the George Floyd riots, there was an "ugly reason" why the iconic poem wasn't chosen as the national anthem for more than 100 years.
"'The Star-Spangled Banner' did not become the national anthem until more than a century after it was written because of controversy, partly over Key’s racist views," The Post wrote. "One section of the poem’s third verse, in particular, has come under scrutiny from those who say it was intended to mock or threaten African Americans who escaped slavery to join the British forces, after being promised land in exchange for their service."
The article then printed what Key had written in the third verse, which read, "No refuge could save the hireling and slave, From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave, And The Star-Spangled Banner in triumph doth wave, O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave."
Fox News Digital's Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this update.
Thu, 28 Mar 2024 05:26:03 -0400
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The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland on Tuesday raised serious questions about what safety or protective mechanisms could have been in place to prevent such a disaster.
It is still unclear what caused a massive 985-foot long cargo vessel to apparently lose control and strike the supportive pylon, a critical part of the structure that keeps the deck of the bridge in place.
Could the bridge have been better protected to safeguard against a large vessel striking a key part of its infrastructure? Experts say the answer is not so simple.
Ron Harichandran, Ph.D., dean of the Tagliatela College of Engineering in Connecticut, told Fox News Digital that protective barriers – if they were there – may not have been enough to stop the Dali, given its sheer size and weight. The Singapore-flagged container has dead weight tonnage, or total tonnage, of nearly 117,000 tons.
"Most of those protections systems that they have directly around the pier would probably not have been able to protect this particular incident because of the size of the cargo ship and the weight," Harichandran said. "It was just too big."
"The only thing that might have worked is if they had sort of an island around the piers and that's not done often," Harichandran added. "It basically involves filling up an area of the river and building an island, so the ship would hit the island and not the pier. That's what you would have to do if you wanted that level of protection, but obviously, that's quite expensive."
"It should really have been done at the time the bridge is built and not retrofitting it," he added.
Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said at a Tuesday press briefing that protective structures would be a part of the investigation into the collapse of the Maryland bridge.
"There’s some questions about the structure of the bridge – protective structure around the bridge or around the piers to make sure there isn’t a collapse," she said, responding to a reporter’s question. "We are aware of what a structure should have. Part of our investigation will be how was this bridge constructed? It will look at the structure itself. Should there be any sort of safety improvements? All of that will be part of our investigation."
The Francis Scott Key Bridge, which was built in 1977, does not appear to have any protective barriers in place, and the pier that was struck was not surrounded by any barrier or buffer-like structures, according to photos and videos from the scene.
There are some small circular-shaped structures in the water, but it is unclear if they are barriers that serve another purpose. A spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment about whether the Baltimore bridge had a bumper system or protective barriers in place.
Fox News' Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
Thu, 28 Mar 2024 04:03:39 -0400
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The governments of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras have confirmed that their nationals are among those killed or still missing after a cargo ship slammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge early Tuesday, causing it to fall into the Patapsco River.
At least eight people fell into the water and two were rescued. Two bodies were recovered Wednesday and four remain missing. They are presumed dead.
Guatemala’s Foreign Affairs Ministry had earlier confirmed that two of its citizens were among the missing.
And El Salvador's foreign minister, Alexandra Hill Tinoco, posted Wednesday on X that one Salvadoran citizen, Miguel Luna, was among the missing workers.
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In Mexico, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said three Mexicans were on the bridge when it fell, including one who was injured but rescued and two who were still missing.
López Obrador did not disclose their names for privacy reasons.
According to the Mexican president, the migrants took on the risky job at midnight to highlight their dedication to finding employment in the U.S. to help boost its economy.
“This demonstrates that migrants go out and do risky jobs at midnight. And for this reason, they do not deserve to be treated as they are by certain insensitive, irresponsible politicians in the United States,” López Obrador said.
Later, Col. Roland L. Butler Jr., superintendent of Maryland State Police, announced that the bodies of two men, ages 35 and 26, had been located by divers inside a red pickup submerged in about 25 feet (7.6 meters) of water near the bridge’s middle span.
They were identified as Guatemalan Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, and 35-year-old Alejandro Hernández Fuentes, originally from Mexico.
The victims include an enterprising Honduran father and husband, according to his family.
Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, 38, was confirmed to be among those presumed to be dead. He was from Azacualpa, a rural mountainous area in northwestern Honduras along the border with Guatemala. He is survived by a wife and two children ages 17 and 5.
Federal and state investigators said Tuesday’s crash appears to have been an accident.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Thu, 28 Mar 2024 02:20:12 -0400
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The Maryland Transportation Authority Police released harrowing dispatch audio from moments before the container ship Dali rammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in the Baltimore Harbor.
At approximately 1:25 a.m. on Tuesday, the Dali veered off course, lost power and struck one of the iconic bridge's support pillars.
"I need one of you guys on the south side, one of you guys on the north side, hold all traffic on the Key Bridge," an officer can be heard saying in the released audio.
The officer added: "There's a ship approaching that just lost their steering so until we get that under control, we've got to stop all traffic.”
Just four minutes later, another officer can be heard saying in the police dispatch audio that the bridge had fallen.
"The whole bridge just fell down! Start whoever, everybody — the whole bridge just collapsed!" the officer said.
Fox News Digital's Chris Pandolfo and Greg Norman contributed to this update.
Thu, 28 Mar 2024 01:37:32 -0400
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The Baltimore bridge collapse that left six people dead on Tuesday is the latest deadly collapse across the United States prompted by a sea vessel or ship strike.
On May 26, 2002, the Interstate 40 bridge spanning the Arkansas River at Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, collapsed after it was struck. A 500-foot section fell after the barge struck it, sending multiple vehicle plunging into the water.
The incident left 14 people dead. Another 11 people were injured.
On Sept. 15, 2001, the Queen Isabella Causeway collapsed in Port Isabel, Texas, leaving eight people dead. The incident was prompted by a tugboat and a barge, which struck the bridge, causing a midsection of the bridge to tumble 80 feet into the bay below.
On Sept. 22, 1993, the Big Bayou Canot railroad bridge near Mobile, Alabama collapsed after barges being pushed by a towboat in dense fog struck the bridge. Minutes later, an Amtrak train with 220 people aboard reached the bridge and derailed, leaving 47 people dead and injuring 103 people.
Another major collapse happened on May 9, 1980, when the Summit Venture vessel was navigating through the narrow, winding shipping channel of Florida’s Tampa Bay. After the ship’s radar was knocked out, the 609-foot freighter hit a support of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, causing a 1,400-foot section of concrete roadway to fall.
The collapse caused six vehicles and a bus with 26 aboard to fall 150 feet into the water. Thirty-five people died.
Other non-fatal, major collapses include the Popp’s Ferry Bridge in Biloxi, Mississippi on March 20, 2009; and, the Eads Bridge collapse on the Mississippi River, near the St. Louis Harbor, on April 14, 1998, left 50 injured.
According to the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure, there have been 35 major bridge collapses worldwide due to ship or barge collisions from 1960 to 2015.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Thu, 28 Mar 2024 00:04:28 -0400
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The Singaporean-flagged Dali ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday morning underwent “routine engine maintenance” in port before the crash, an official with the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath said at a news conference that authorities were informed that the ship was going to undergo the maintenance but said there were no known issues with the ship's engine.
“As far as the engine goes, we were not informed of any problems with the vessel,” he said.
The Dali left port at 12:39 a.m. on Tuesday and entered the waterway. It then began experiencing signs of trouble and sounded numerous alarms at approximately 1:25 a.m., according to the NTSB. Just after 1:27 a.m., the pilot commanded the ship to drop an anchor and within two minutes, the vessel collided with the bridge.
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According to inspection records, the vessel was also flagged for two deficiencies between 2015 and 2023.
Equasis reported that the Dali had 27 recorded inspections from April 20, 2015 and Sept. 13, 2023, during which time there were two deficiencies found.
On Nov. 27, 2016, the records show the ship was flagged for “hull damage impairing seaworthiness,” in Antwerp, Belgium.
Then on June 27, 2023, the ship was flagged for an issue categorized under propulsion and auxiliary machinery, and sub categorized as “gauges, thermometers, etc.”
Its most recent inspection was conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard in New York on Sept. 13, 2023, when no deficiencies were reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 23:32:01 -0400
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The black box aboard the Dali, the Singaporean-flagged cargo ship that crashed into a support beam of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to collapse, is key to figuring out what was going on with the ship’s engine moments before the crash, a maritime expert said.
“That black box would be the vessel data recorder,” Sal Mercogliano, a former merchant mariner, said on "Your World with Neil Cavuto." “So it would have all the readings from the engine room, everything that potentially led to the loss of power on the vessel.”
He added: “It would also have all the instrumentation from the bridge. And probably most interesting for everybody is a voice recorder that records the conversations on the bridge, that conversation between the ship's pilots that were on board, helping to navigate the vessel and the ship's master.”
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board recovered the black box on Wednesday.
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Mercogliano said the ship suffered electrical system failure but that was not the reason its anchor failed to stop it from hitting the support structure.
“Fortunately, the anchors, their brakes, do not require power,” he said. “So you just have to release them. But you have to think about the moment when they wanted to release it. A ship at eight knots, about ten miles an hour, 115,000 tons. An anchor is going to have a hard time stopping it. And it really is not like in the movies where you see that.”
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 23:38:27 -0400
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Maryland authorities said Wednesday that two bodies have been recovered after a cargo ship slammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday morning.
Maryland State Police Superintendent Roland Butler identified the victims as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Baltimore and Dorlian Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Dundalk.
Divers found the victims inside a red pickup truck submerged under approximately 25 feet water in the middle span of the bridge.
Butler said the men's families have been notified by authorities.
"Based upon the conditions, we're now moving from a recovery mode to a salvage operation because of the superstructure surrounding what we believe are the vehicles and the amount of concrete and debris, divers are no longer able to safely navigate or operate around that in the areas around this wreckage," Butler said.
“The collapse of the Key Bridge is not just a Maryland crisis. The collapse of a key bridge is a global crisis. The national economy and the world's economy depends on the port of Baltimore,” Gov. Wes Moore said. “The port handles more cars and more farm equipment than any other port in the country.”
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 16:57:19 -0400
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Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo has instructed the Guatemalan consulate in Maryland to provide updates on the search for the construction workers who went missing in the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse early Tuesday.
At least two Guatemalan citizens are among those missing. The others are from Honduras and Mexico, according to diplomats from those countries.
President Arévalo asked the consulate “accompany the family [of those missing] in the necessary procedures.”
“In these difficult times, my solidarity and attention are with them and their families,” he said.
Investigators were constructing evidence Wednesday from the cargo ship that slammed into the bridge, causing it to collapse. Down in the waters below divers were searching through the twisted metal for six construction workers who plunged into the harbor and were feared dead.
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 16:17:49 -0400
An obscure 19th century law could potentially limit the liability for the owner of the cargo ship that slammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge Tuesday morning, sending the structure, along with workers and vehicles, into the water below.
The 1851 law, if enacted, could save Grace Ocean, the Singapore-based owner of the container ship, hundreds of millions of dollars.
Tulane University’s Maritime Law Centre director Martin Davis told The Straits Times that the law could lower Grace Ocean’s legal woes to only tens of millions of dollars.
The law was originally implemented to help shipping giants avoid devastating losses from disasters while out at sea. The law was cited in a Supreme Court case involving the Titanic more than a century ago.
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 15:22:28 -0400
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U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday appeared to walk back comments from President Joe Biden that U.S. taxpayers would foot the bill for the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.
Appearing on MSNBC Wednesday, Yellen said money from the bipartisan infrastructure law that could “potentially be helpful.”
“My expectation would be that ultimately there’ll be insurance payments, in part, to cover this. But we don’t want to allow worrying about where the financing will come from to hold up reconstruction,” Yellen said.
Her comments come a day after Biden said it was his “intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge, and I expect the Congress to support my effort.”
Biden said that, while the effort will take some time, the people of Baltimore “can count on us.”
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 14:34:40 -0400
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Singaporean officials say they will conduct their own investigation into the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in addition to supporting U.S. authorities.
The ship that struck the bridge, the Dali, had been traveling under a Singaporean flag. The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said Wednesday it was working with the ship's management company, Synergy Marine Group, to get information to the U.S. Coast Guard for its investigation.
The agency also said Singapore's Transport Safety Investigation Bureau will independently investigate, not to determine liability, but to identify lessons for the future.
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 16:54:49 -0400
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The Singapore-flagged cargo ship that struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing its collapse, was transporting containers with hazardous materials, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
Vice Admiral Peter Gautier said during the White House press briefing that of the 4700 containers on board the Dali, 56 contain hazardous materials and two are missing overboard. The ones that are in the water do not contain hazardous materials, he told reporters.
"There is no threat to the public from the hazardous materials on board," Gautier said.
A specialized hazmat team went aboard the ship to inspect the cargo.
“The majority of those containers are closer to the pilot house and are completely unaffected by the damage to the bow of the ship,” he said. “And we have not determined that there's any kind of release at this time.”
“The real critical thing here is that, as you know, a portion of the bridge remains on the bow on that ship, and we will be coordinating very closely with the Army Corps of Engineers and their contractors to first effect the removal of that debris before the vessel can then be removed,” Gautier added. “The vessel bow is sitting on the bottom because of the weight of that bridge debris on there.”
The Coast Guard will be working with the Army Corps of Engineers to lead the cleanup of the Patapsco River so the Port of Baltimore can get back to full operation, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told reporters.
Fox News Digital's Greg Norman contributed to this update.
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 21:09:44 -0400
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg delivered an update on the Baltimore bridge collapse recovery effort at Wednesday's White House press briefing.
The secretary outlined the steps the Department of Transportation is taking to reopen the Port of Baltimore, deal with supply chain issues until the port reopens, rebuild the bridge and handle transportation reroutes until the bridge is restored.
"Rebuilding will not be quick, or easy or cheap. But we will get it done," Buttigieg said.
The U.S. Coast Guard is coordinating with the Army Corps of Engineers to clear the channel and restore shipping access to the Port of Baltimore. The Biden administration will use new regulatory authority established by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to "smooth out supply chains" and "keep goods moving," according to the secretary.
Buttigieg said the National Transportation Safety Board is leading an independent investigation into the cargo ship accident that led to the bridge disaster. He said President Biden will work with Congress "to provide all the support that Maryland and Baltimore needs."
"This will be a long and, difficult path. But we will come together around Baltimore and we will rebuild together," Buttigieg said.
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 16:30:23 -0400
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National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy told Fox News on Wednesday that her agency has recovered the voyage data recorder from the ship that struck the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore, causing it to collapse.
“It records everything from speed to location of the vessel,” Homendy said, noting that the recorder has been sent back to a lab for analysis. “So we will be able to share what happened through a timeline of events leading up to the striking of the bridge.”
“And then we hope to marry that with everything that occurred afterwards. Any sort of notification, any sort of mayday, any sort of potential evacuation,” she added.
Homendy also said the NTSB’s focus right now is on getting “perishable evidence” from the Dali cargo ship, which remains stuck under the collapsed metal from the bridge.
“So once we get on the vessel, hopefully today we will be able to get, any other electronics that we want to take, any other sort of document.
Fox News' Griff Jenkins contributed to this update.
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 14:38:22 -0400
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Maryland Gov. Wes Moore ordered the state flag at half staff Wednesday to honor those lost in the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster.
"Our entire state is grateful for the tireless work of our first responders and everyone who has stepped up to serve in the past 24 hours. Maryland is strong and has risen to meet this moment as the work continues today," Moore said in a statement.
"The hearts of every Marylander are with the families of those affected by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge," he continued. "We have spoken to the families, prayed with them, and assured them that our state will mobilize every resource to bring them closure."
At least eight people went into the water early Tuesday. Two were rescued, but the other six — part of a construction crew that had been filling potholes on the bridge — were missing and presumed dead. A search for their bodies was underway Wednesday.
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 14:37:28 -0400
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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will join White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at Wednesday's afternoon press briefing.
Buttigieg and Vice Admiral Peter Gautier, Deputy Commandant for Operations for the United States Coast Guard, are expected to deliver updates on the federal government's response to the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, Maryland.
Earlier, Buttigieg told Fox News that Americans should prepare for the supply chain impacts of shipping disruptions in the Port of Baltimore. "The bridge itself carried about 30,000 vehicles a day. There are tunnels that work as alternatives, but there's going to be some impacts on traffic. The other major concern right now is the port," he said on "America's Newsroom."
"One thing that's important to understand is, the way that the flow of cargo ships is handled is very different from something like air traffic control, where if, say, a runway goes out or there's a problem at an airport and planes have to divert, there is a single authority telling those planes what to do and where to go. It doesn't work that way with ocean shipping," the secretary explained.
"You've got different shippers, different ports, different terminals, different cargo owners. They're under no requirement to talk to each other. But we've been using the relationships and some of the tools we have at the Department of Transportation to make sure that coordination does happen."
Buttigieg noted the Port of Baltimore is one of largest receivers of vehicle shipments in the United States, including cars and farm equipment.
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 11:58:38 -0400
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Workers recovered a truck from the site of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in the Patapsco River, but at least one vehicle remains hanging from metal debris, according to the Associated Press.
The outlet cited a law enforcement official who had knowledge of a Homeland Security memo detailing the recovery.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore on Wednesday praised divers who have spent hours in frigid water.
“They are down there in darkness where they can literally see about a foot in front of them,” he said. “They are trying to navigate mangled metal and they’re also in a place it is now presumed that people have lost their lives, so the work of these first responders, the work of these divers, I cannot stress enough how remarkable these individuals are.”
A search is ongoing for the six construction workers who are presumed dead following the bridge collapse.
One of the missing Brawner Builders employees has been identified by Telemundo Washington D.C. as 49-year-old Miguel Luna of El Salvador, whose relatives say has six children. Two Guatemalans aged 26 and 35 are also unaccounted for, according to the country’s foreign ministry, and a colleague has told The Associated Press that he was informed the six were sitting in their trucks during a break at the time of the disaster.
Fox News Digital's Greg Norman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 11:14:08 -0400
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Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., warned that the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster could "very quickly" cause major supply chain problems thanks to President Biden's policies.
Maryland officials have closed the Port of Baltimore while recovery efforts are underway in the Patapsco River where the bridge fell. Ships will be unable to enter or exit the port until the mangled heap of steel debris from the bridge is cleared from the channel.
Van Drew, who sits on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said companies that rely on the port to ship and receive goods will soon have problems with their inventories.
"It is so important that we realize that the inventories that companies have are not the same inventories they used to have before Joe Biden. Because inflation is so high, it's problematic for them to hold that many goods in one location," Van Drew explained. "So, we're going to very quickly have problems with the supply chain."
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 11:03:47 -0400
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Safety investigators probing the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, Maryland, are examining whether contaminated fuel was a factor in the cargo ship losing power and ramming the bridge.
Andrew Lipow, president of consulting firm Lipow Oil Associates, LLC, told Fox News there are two types of fuel that vessels burn and explained where so-called "dirty fuel" comes from.
"Marine distillate fuels, also known as Marine Gas Oil, is used in diesel engines. Then there is Marine Residual Fuels which can be used in the main engines. Some renewable fuels, such as biodiesel or renewable diesel have recently been used in the diesel engines," Lipow explained.
Dirty diesel fuel is a fuel that may be contaminated with water or sediment picked up during the refining process coming in with crude oil, or from the catalyst used in some other refining processes, according to Lipow.
"You might think, how could refiners let this happen? They wash the crude with water to remove the sediment. The diesel fuel must be boiled out of the crude oil and rarely contains any solid material after this step has taken place. Sediment can accumulate in the distribution system in tank bottoms or even barges and ultimately be loaded onto a vessel," he said. "This could be a possible source of contamination. The industry does have quality specifications regarding the sediment content."
If dirty fuel caused the power outage on the cargo ship Dali, the more likely culprit would be dirty residual fuel, Lipow explained.
"Residual fuel oil is produced from the heaviest part of the crude oil, the 'bottom of the barrel.' Other heavy oil streams are produced at some of the downstream units which are blended into residual fuel and these streams may contain catalyst particulates," he said.
"These 'bottom of the barrel' heavy oil streams may be sourced from several refiners and blended to produce the Marine Residual Fuel. In some cases, they may be incompatible with each other meaning that upon blending, solids will form and that plugs up the fuel injectors starving the engine of fuel," he continued. "No fuel: no power."
Lipow said sediment can gather in the distribution system in tank bottoms or even barges and ultimately be loaded onto a vessel.
"The very nature of residual fuels being heavy is more likely to lead to this being a potential source of 'dirty fuel,'" he said.
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 10:29:19 -0400
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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg appeared on "America's Newsroom" Wednesday to discuss his visit to the site of the Baltimore bridge collapse and ongoing recovery efforts.
Buttigieg said the Department of Transportation's immediate goal is to clear the channel in Baltimore Harbor and restore shipping access to the port.
"Of course, the ultimate goal is to clear that channel, get that port back up and running as quickly as possible. But that's not going to happen overnight. So we've got to deal with the implications," Buttigieg said.
The secretary observed that it took five years to build the Francis Scott Key Bridge before it opened in 1977 and said there is not yet an estimate of how long it will take to rebuild.
"The president made it very clear that every tool that the federal government needs to be available to Governor Wes Moore as the state of Maryland leads the work on both the bridge and the port," he told "America's Newsroom."
"We've got to make sure that funding is not an obstacle, and we're going to make sure that we tear down any administrative barriers, too. And that's going to require a lot of work. We're going to do everything we can as a department that does not require an act of Congress. But we're also going to engage Congress because we will likely need their help to make sure some of the funding is in place."
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 14:36:50 -0400
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Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said Wednesday it is too early to say if anyone is at fault for the cargo ship accident that caused the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.
But he added that if anyone is found to be responsible, they must be held accountable.
When asked if those liable should pay to rebuild the bridge, Moore told Fox News' Griff Jenkins, "I think it's too early in the investigation to know that."
"But the thing that I know is that if people are found to be found to held liable for what happened, there needs to be accountability for that," Moore said.
The Democratic governor, now thrust into the national spotlight by Tuesday's tragedy, said the top priority for his administration is to get the Port of Baltimore reopened and protect the livelihoods of workers who rely on it.
"The thing that we want to remind people is we have to make sure our workers are protected," Moore said. "They had nothing to do with this. The other thing is we've got to be able to focus and get our economic engine going again. We've got to get that bridge rebuilt and we have to get this this port reopened."
The governor said rebuilding efforts will be "long" and "complicated," and will require federal assistance. President Biden has pledged emergency funds to Maryland to assist with disaster recovery and called on Congress to pass additional funds.
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 14:35:24 -0400
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Maryland Gov. Wes Moore joined "Fox & Friends" Wednesday morning to provide an update on recovery efforts after the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster.
The bridge collapsed early Tuesday morning after a cargo ship lost power and struck one of its support piers. Six construction workers who were on the bridge are presumed dead, officials said. Two were pulled from the water by rescuers, one in critical condition who was hospitalized.
Moore told "Fox & Friends" that officials have no indication there were any private civilians driving on the bridge at the time of its collapse. "We do not have any indication as of right now of individual citizens that that were that were caught in this," the governor said.
He added that authorities on the bridge who were able to halt traffic when the ship issued a mayday alert prevented the catastrophe from being worse.
"They are heroes, and they saved countless lives," Moore said.
The governor said divers are in the Patapsco River Wednesday morning working in "pitch dark" and "cold" to recover the bodies of those killed for their families.
"We've moved on to a recovery mission," Moore said. "We are going to expend every effort to bring them closure."
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 07:43:25 -0400
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As Maryland authorities deal with the aftermath of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on the Baltimore Beltway, another state's former governor who handled a similar tragedy spoke out to Fox News.
Former Minnesota Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty told "Your World" Tuesday there are plenty of similarities but also some obvious differences between what happened in Maryland early Tuesday and the 2007 incident in Minneapolis when a structural flaw brought the I-35W bridge tumbling down to the Mississippi River below. Thirteen people died and 145 were injured in that collapse.
"[There are] so many similarities," Pawlenty told "Your World. "The shock, the grief, the sadness, the expression duly of condolences to the families and the victims are all top of mind. But then, of course, simultaneously, a rush of other things."
Pawlenty said he expects the all-hands-on-deck recovery effort lauded by Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore to continue, just as his own did when he oversaw the I-35W recovery.
However, unlike in Minneapolis, where the NTSB embarked on an investigation into the structure itself, Pawlenty surmised investigators will focus moreso on purported mechanical failures on the Singapore-flagged container ship that struck the Key Bridge shortly after setting sail down the Patapsco River from the Port of Baltimore.
"[I]t looks like this is going to shift from what happened to the bridge to what happened on the ship…" Pawlenty said.
Fox News Digital's Charles Creitz contributed to this update.
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 07:21:58 -0400
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A search for the six construction workers who are presumed dead following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore resumed Wednesday morning as details are emerging about their identities and the families they leave behind.
One of the missing Brawner Builders employees has been identified by Telemundo Washington D.C. as 49-year-old Miguel Luna of El Salvador, whose relatives say has six children. Two Guatemalans aged 26 and 35 are also unaccounted for, according to the country’s foreign ministry, and a colleague has told The Associated Press that he was informed the six were sitting in their trucks during a break at the time of the disaster.
"It is so hard for me to describe. I know that a month ago I was there, and I know what it feels like when the trailers pass. Imagine knowing that it is falling. It is so hard, one would not know what to do," Brawner Builders employee Jesus Campos said.
Also among the missing are people from Honduras and Mexico, diplomats say. The Honduran man was identified as Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandova, The Associated Press reports.
Operators of the Dali cargo ship had issued a mayday call that the vessel had lost power moments before the crash, but the ship still headed toward the span at "a very, very rapid speed," Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said Tuesday.
The 985-foot-long vessel struck one of the 1.6-mile-long bridge's supports, causing the span to break and fall into the water within seconds.
An emergency responder could be heard on dispatch audio mentioning that construction workers had been operating on the bridge during the collapse, and an "unknown amount of those workers [were] in the water." That prompted a call for a dive team.
The Guatemalan Foreign Ministry later said in a statement that "Two Guatemalans, 26 and 35 years old, originally from San Luis, Petén and Camotán, Chiquimula, respectively; are missing after the accident that occurred early this Tuesday, March 26, when a cargo ship lost control on the Patapsco River, colliding with the Francis Scott Key Bridge."
"The Guatemalans were part of a total of eight workers who were repairing the asphalt on the bridge at the time of the accident," it added. "Two men were rescued, but one of them is in critical condition."
Fox News Digital's Greg Norman, Bradford Betz and the Associated Press contributed to this update.
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 07:07:13 -0400
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The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on Tuesday after a container ship lost power navigating the channel and collided with one of the bridge's support pilings has resulted in the indefinite closure of the Port of Baltimore, which will impact the supply chain on the Eastern Seaboard and beyond.
Jean-Paul Rodrigue, a professor in the Department of Maritime Business Administration at Texas A&M University – Galveston, told FOX Business that companies with cargo bound for Baltimore are working to reroute those shipments to other ports with the capacity to handle
"The first candidate will be New York, then it's going to be Hampton Roads, which is in Virginia, Philadelphia – but it's also a lower capacity, so it's a bit more difficult for Philadelphia," Rodrigue said. "But New York and Hampton Roads can handle this traffic."
He added that it would not be a problem for those ports to handle the traffic from "ro/ro" ships – which can accommodate cars driving on and driving off – given Baltimore's role as a key port for automobile shipments.
The Port of Baltimore handles more auto cargo than any other U.S. port with 750,000 vehicles flowing through the port in 2022, according to port data. Ford and General Motors each announced that they are working to reroute auto shipments that were scheduled to go to Baltimore and said the impact would be minimal.
The port also serves as a hub for other goods including coal, as it was the second-busiest port for coal exports in 2023. It is also the largest port by volume for farm and construction machinery, as well as sugar and salt. Its indefinite closure could create bottlenecks in the supply chain, resulting in delays and higher costs for certain goods on the Eastern Seaboard.
In February, the Maryland governor's office announced that the Port of Baltimore's public and private terminals handled a record 52.3 million tons of foreign cargo valued at $80 billion in 2023, a record amount of cargo. That figure includes about 1.3 million tons of ro/ro farm and construction equipment plus 11.7 million tons of general cargo tons. It also handled 1.1 million 21-foot equivalent unit containers.
Baltimore area residents are also going to face increased traffic congestion with the bridge out of action. The Francis Scott Key Bridge, named for the author of the U.S. national anthem, is a key thoroughfare that had an average traffic volume of 31,000 cars per day or 11.3 million vehicles per year on the I-695 highway.
FOX Business' Eric Revell and Reuters contributed to this update.
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 07:34:13 -0400
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A former merchant marine captain – who’s traveled in and out of the Baltimore port "a number of times" – explained what happens when a mechanical error occurs on cargo ships.
"When you look at these incidents, typically you'll look at human error, you'll look at mechanical error and possibly some sort of security concern. At initial glance, it looks here like it is a mechanical error," former Cpt. Klaus Luhta said on "Varney & Co."
"There are some cases where when a ship loses propulsion, you just have no way of controlling it," he continued. "And this appears to be one of those catastrophes where it was just out of the hands of what anybody could do."
The Francis Scott Key Bridge along I-695 in Maryland tragically collapsed into Baltimore harbor following a "ship strike," officials said.
Several vehicles and workers were on the bridge at the time of its collapse. On Tuesday, two people were pulled from the water, one in critical condition. Search and rescue operations for at least six others were suspended that evening at 7:30 p.m.ET.
The Maryland governor's office confirmed that a cargo ship lost power and sent a mayday warning before hitting the Baltimore bridge.
The massive container ship named DALI has previously collided with infrastructure while docking, according to reports that show DALI collided with a stone wall at a dock in Antwerp, Belgium, in the afternoon of July 11, 2016.
The container ship suffered damage and was docked for repairs, but no one was injured in the collision, according to The New York Times.
"You're accelerating the vessel as you leave the port, so that you can maneuver under that bridge and through the channels effectively," Luhta explained. "So it's likely that as [an] increase in speed was occurring, there was a propulsion failure. It appears that way from the video."
Fox Business' Kristen Altus contributed to this update.
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 05:56:38 -0400
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Maryland’s newly elected Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, who many believe has ambitions for higher office, was thrust into the national spotlight on Tuesday and reacted to the first catastrophic event on his watch when a container ship toppled a bridge causing several deaths.
"This morning, our state is in shock and I want to take this moment to speak directly to the people of our state," Moore, who took office in January of last year, said during a press conference on Tuesday morning.
"To our first responders. I'm in awe of you. I'm in awe of all of your courage and all of your strength. I'm in awe of everything you do for each and every one of us. You saw a crisis and you said, what can I do to help? And our response teams are doing everything in our power to rescue and recover the victims of this collapse, literally, as we speak, people who, as we speak, are out there, our divers, our air assets. People right now working to save lives and are doing it because the state asked and we will update the public as the work continues."
Moore was reacting to news and video of a large container ship slamming into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in the Baltimore harbor on Monday night sending the bridge crashing into the water.
The crew of the cargo ship, originating out of India, issued a mayday in the moments before the disaster in time for authorities to stop traffic from entering the bridge, limiting the number of vehicles involved in what officials have called a "mass casualty event."
"We're thankful that between the mayday and the collapse that we had officials who were able to begin to stop the flow of traffic so more cars were not on the bridge," Moore said.
Authorities said a crew of eight construction workers were on the bridge, in addition to any traffic at the time of the collapse. It is unclear exactly how many people were killed in the accident but at least 6 people are unaccounted for after 2 were rescued from the water.
The catastrophe represents the first test where Moore’s leadership will be thrust into the national spotlight a little over a year after he won the Maryland gubernatorial primary with President Biden’s help on the campaign trail and then defeated Republican Dan Cox by over 30 points.
Fox News' Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 05:50:00 -0400
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The owner of the Singapore-flagged ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, causing it to collapse, could face hundreds of millions of dollars in damage claims after it sent vehicles into the water and and impacted the eastern U.S. transportation network.
Legal experts, however, said there is a way to reduce liability under an obscure 19th-century law once invoked by the owner of the Titanic to limit its payout for that ship's sinking in 1912, according to The Straits Times.
Singapore-based Grace Ocean is the owner of the container ship called Dali that crashed into the bridge on Tuesday on its trip chartered by the shipping giant Maersk. Damages claims are likely to fall on the ship owner.
The company could face many lawsuits from multiple parties, including from the bridge's owner and the families of six workers who were presumed dead at the conclusion of a search and rescue mission in the Patapsco River.
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 04:55:30 -0400
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A safety investigation into the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, Maryland, will include whether contaminated fuel was a factor in a cargo ship losing power and crashing into the bridge.
The lights on the Dali began to flicker about an hour into the ship's trip early Tuesday. A harbor pilot and assistant reported power issues and a loss of propulsion prior to the collision, according to a Coast Guard briefing report.
"The vessel went dead, no steering power and no electronics," an officer aboard the ship said Tuesday. "One of the engines coughed and then stopped. The smell of burned fuel was everywhere in the engine room and it was pitch black."
The ship did not have enough time to drop anchors to stop drifting, according to the officer, and crew members issued a mayday call before the crash happened.
Blackouts at sea are uncommon, but they do happen and have long been viewed as a major accident risk for ships on the water.
One cause of ship blackouts is contaminated fuel that can create problems with its main power generators, said Fotis Pagoulatos, a naval architect. He said a complete blackout could result in a ship losing propulsion and that smaller generators can kick in, but they are unable to carry all the functions of the main ones and take time to start.
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 03:19:08 -0400
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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District announced it has activated its Emergency Operations Center to allow more than 1,100 engineering, construction, contracting and operations specialists to provide support to local, state and federal agencies after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
USACE said it will lead the effort to clear the federal channel as part of the larger interagency recovery effort. It said it is working with local, state and federal partners to determine the moves required to remove the collapsed bridge.
USACE is providing:
• Certified underwater assessment capabilities by Structural Professional Engineers, Remotely Operated Vehicle and sonar;
• Structural Engineering support, including certified bridge safety inspectors and urban search and rescue structural technical specialists;
• Waterway debris management, led by USACE debris removal vessel REYNOLDS, which patrols the waters of the Baltimore Harbor and Patapsco River for drift and debris that could be hazardous to navigation.
"Our thoughts are with those impacted by the tragic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge," Baltimore District Commander Col. Estee Pinchasin said. "Our Emergency Managers are closely monitoring the incident and coordinating with partner agencies for any potential support requests."
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 00:26:15 -0400
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The Minnesota Department of Transportation announced Tuesday that the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis will be lit up in Maryland's state colors of red, black and yellow as a show of support for Baltimore residents following the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.
"Tonight, the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River will be lit red, white, yellow and black—the colors of Maryland's flag," the Minnesota Department of Transportation wrote Tuesday night on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
"Our thoughts are with those injured or still missing, and with the brave first responders following this morning's bridge tragedy in Baltimore," the post continued.
Tue, 26 Mar 2024 23:10:26 -0400
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The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed Tuesday morning after a cargo ship crashed into the span. The 1.6-mile bridge carries Interstate 695 in Baltimore, Maryland, and crosses the Patapsco River. The collision was captured on a livestream, with traffic moving along the bridge and construction crews working on the structure.
Here is a timeline of events that occurred on March 26, 2024.
Dali, a large 948-foot-long container ship that would eventually collide with the Francis Scott Key Bridge, left port from Baltimore Harbor. The ship was headed on a month-long voyage to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Minutes before 1:30 a.m., Dali lost power; lights on the vessel flickered as it headed toward a support pillar of the bridge.
Fox News' Breana Scheckwitz contributed to this report.
Tue, 26 Mar 2024 22:05:37 -0400
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Marine Traffic animations show the pathway of the Dali container ship before it collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore at about 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
The animations, which were posted by the Associated Press, first show the Dali leaving the shipping docks before heading toward the bridge and coming to a stop once it reached it.
In the second animation, various rescue boats are seen responding to the Dali after it struck the bridge, causing it to plunge into the river below.
Singapore-based Synergy Marine Group owns and manages the 985-foot-long vessel and confirmed on Tuesday in a statement that the ship hit a pillar under the bridge, which caused the structure to collapse.
All crew members and the two pilots on board were accounted for, though six out of eight construction crew members who were working on the bridge when it fell have still not been found.
On Tuesday night, the Coast Guard called off search efforts, adding the six missing workers are presumed to be dead.
Tue, 26 Mar 2024 21:22:12 -0400
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Dispatch audio from emergency responders captured the tense atmosphere after a cargo ship rammed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge early Tuesday, causing it to be completely destroyed.
Operators of the Dali cargo ship had issued a mayday call that the vessel had lost power moments before the crash, but the ship still headed toward the span at "a very, very rapid speed," Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said.
The 985-foot-long vessel struck one of the 1.6-mile long bridge's supports, causing the span to break and fall into the water within seconds.
An emergency responder could be heard on the dispatch audio mentioning that construction workers had been operating on the bridge during the collapse, and an "unknown amount of those workers [were] in the water." That prompted a call for a dive team.
Later in the call, another dispatcher says the "main portion" of the bridge had collapsed into the water, causing vehicles to be "plummetted and submerged" in the water. Dispatchers also mention that police have begun stopping vehicles from entering the bridge.
Another dispatcher described it as a "mass casualty" incident.
Bradford Betz and Brooke Curto of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
Tue, 26 Mar 2024 21:16:23 -0400
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