Singapore-flagged container ship brings down Baltimore bridge

BALTIMORE, Maryland (Reuters) -- A massive cargo ship crippled by a loss of power smashed into a bridge while sailing out of Baltimore Harbor early on Tuesday, sending vehicles and people into the river below and closing one of the busiest ports on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.

Maryland Governor Wes Moore said at least six people were still missing hours after the Singapore-flagged container vessel named Dali, bound for Sri Lanka, knocked down a large section of the Francis Scott Key Bridge about 1:30 a.m.

Rescuers pulled two survivors to safety, one of whom was hospitalized, and searched for more in the Patapsco River after huge metal spans of the 1.6-mile (2.57 km) bridge crumpled into the icy water.

The ship reported a power failure before impact, which enabled officials to stop traffic on the bridge before the collapse.

"By being able to stop cars from coming over the bridge, these people are heroes. They saved lives last night," Moore said at an earlier briefing. The bridge was up to code and there were no known structural issues, Moore said.

There was no evidence of foul play, officials said.

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott described a scene of twisted metal shooting into the sky.

"It was something out of an action movie. It was something you never thought you'd see," he said.

A live video posted on YouTube showed the ship plowing into the bridge in darkness. The headlights of vehicles could be seen on the bridge as it crashed into the water and the ship caught fire.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said closure of one of the country's busiest shipping lanes until further notice would have a protracted impact on supply chains. The Port of Baltimore handles more automobile cargo than any other U.S. port -- more than 750,000 vehicles in 2022, according to port data.

General Motors and Ford Motor will reroute affected shipments, but the companies said the impact would be minimal.

Work crews had been repairing potholes on the bridge at the time of the collapse, and sonar detected vehicles under the water, which was about 50 feet deep at that point, said Paul Wiedefeld, Maryland Secretary of Transportation.

Eight people were on the bridge at the time, and the governor said at an afternoon briefing, "We still have the six individuals who are missing."

The 948-foot (288.95 m) vessel, as long as three football fields placed end to end, had experienced a momentary loss of propulsion and dropped anchors as part of emergency procedures before impact, its management company, Synergy Marine reported, according to the Singapore Port Authority.

The Dali, owned by Grace Ocean, rammed into one of the pillars of the bridge, according to manager Synergy. All 22 crew members aboard the vessel were accounted for, it said.

The closure also threatened to disrupt supplies of goods ranging from coal to sugar. It could create bottlenecks and increase delays and costs on the Eastern seaboard, experts say.

President Joe Biden said the U.S. Coast Guard responded quickly to the mayday call and commended the fast action of Maryland transportation officials who shut the bridge before it was struck and "undoubtedly saved lives."

At the White House, Biden promised to visit Baltimore, 40 miles (64 km) away, as soon as possible and said he wanted the federal government to pay to rebuild the bridge.

"I'm directing my team to move heaven and Earth to reopen the port and rebuild the bridge as soon as humanly possible," Biden said. The bridge, named for the author of the Star-Spangled Banner, opened in 1977.

The U.S. Coast Guard reported the collapse at 1:27 a.m. and deployed crews for an active search and rescue mission after the vessel's impact forced the trellis-like bridge into a mangled mass of metal.

National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy said a team of 24 investigators and other agency personnel were on the scene but holding off on boarding the ship as search-and-rescue operations continued. She said personnel from Singapore safety agencies would arrive in Baltimore on Wednesday.

Jayme Krause, 32, was working a night shift on shore when the cart of packages in front of her shook violently in what sounded like an intense thunderstorm.

A co-worker at an Amazon logistics facility told her the bridge had collapsed and she ran out to look.

"I went over there, and sure as anything, it was gone, the whole bridge was just like, there was nothing there," she told Reuters. "It was a shocking sight to see."

The Francis Scott Key bridge, named for the author of the U.S. national anthem, serves as the main thoroughfare for motorists between New York and Washington seeking to avoid downtown Baltimore. It was one of three ways to cross the Baltimore Harbor, with a traffic volume of 31,000 cars per day or 11.3 million vehicles a year.

The same ship was involved in an incident in the port of Antwerp, Belgium, in 2016, when it hit a quay as it tried to exit the North Sea container terminal.

A later inspection in June 2023 carried out in San Antonio in Chile found the vessel had "propulsion and auxiliary machinery" deficiencies, according to data on the public Equasis website, which provides information on ships.

Tuesday's disaster may be the worst U.S. bridge collapse since 2007, when the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing 13 people.

The Dali was chartered by shipping company Maersk at the time of the incident, the Danish company said in a statement.

"We are horrified by what has happened in Baltimore, and our thoughts are with all of those affected," Maersk said.

More than 40 ships remained inside Baltimore port including small cargo ships, tug boats and pleasure craft, data from ship tracking and maritime analytics provider MarineTraffic showed. At least 30 other ships had signaled their destination was Baltimore, the data showed.