Baltimore bridge collapse: Everything we know about the disaster

Published

2 months ago

March 27, 2024

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A major bridge collapsed in the US city of Baltimore after it was hit by a 289m-long cargo ship.

Six people remain missing after two others were rescued from the water following the disaster in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Here’s everything we know about the incident so far.

What happened?

A large section of the 1.6 mile-long Francis Scott Key Bridge fell into the water after it was struck by a container ship, known as the Dali, at around 1.30am local time (5.30am UK time).

The vessel struck one of the bridge’s supports, causing the whole structure to collapse, sending the road surface and steel beams crashing into the water.

Baltimore bridge latest: Follow live updates

The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation into what happened, with its chair Jennifer Homendy saying at least six people are still missing.

Eight people were initially unaccounted for – with one described as being in a “very serious condition” in hospital. The other was not injured.

The six missing are believed to be part of a construction crew that was repairing potholes on the bridge, the Maryland Department of Transportation has said.

All 22 crew members on board the ship, including the two pilots, have been accounted for and there were no reports of injuries.

What does the footage show?

Dramatic video shows the cargo vessel approaching the bridge before the structure collapses into the water.

Vehicles can be seen falling from the bridge.

An exact number has not been given, but Baltimore fire department’s communications chief Kevin Cartwright said multiple vehicles were on the bridge when it was struck by the ship, one of which was the size of an HGV.

US president Joe Biden said in a news conference hours after the collapse that personnel on the ship were able to alert the Maryland Department of Transportation that they had lost control of their vessel.

Mr Biden added this “undoubtedly saved lives” at it meant local authorities were able to close the bridge before it was struck.

What happened in the moments before the crash?

CCTV and marine tracking data shows the container ship lost power for about 60 seconds about four minutes before it hit the bridge. It appeared to adjust its course and start smoking before impact.

According to the timings on the CCTV, the vessel hit the structure at 1.28:44am – with the bridge collapsing four seconds later.

The operators of the Dali cargo ship issued a mayday call that the vessel had lost power moments before the crash, but the ship still headed toward the bridge at “a very, very rapid speed”, Maryland Governor Wes Moore said.

The ship was moving at eight knots, which is roughly 9mph, when it hit the structure, the governor said.

What do we know about the ship?

The Singapore-flagged container ship, known as Dali, was headed to Colombo in Sri Lanka at the time of the collision.

Synergy Marine Group, the company which manages the ship, said it hit the bridge while under the control of two pilots.

The firm said the exact cause of the incident was yet to be determined.

The Dali was previously involved in a minor incident when it hit a quay at the Port of Antwerp in Belgium in 2016, according to Vessel Finder and maritime accident site Shipwrecklog.

An inspection of the Dali last June at a port in Chile identified a problem with the ship’s “propulsion and auxiliary machinery”, according to Equasis, a shipping information system.

The deficiency involved gauges and thermometers, but the website’s online records did not elaborate.

The most recent inspection listed for the Dali was conducted by the US Coast Guard in New York on 13 September 2023. The “standard examination” did not identify any deficiencies, according to the Equasis data.

What do we know about the bridge itself?

Last June, federal inspectors rated the 47-year-old bridge to be in fair condition. But the structure did not appear to have pier protection to withstand the crash, experts said.

“If a bridge pier without adequate protection is hit by a ship of this size, there is very little that the bridge could do,” according to Virginia Tech engineering professor Roberto Leon.

Built in 1977 and referred to locally as the Key Bridge, it was named after the author of the American national anthem.

What impact could this collision have?

All ship traffic into and out of the Port of Baltimore has been suspended until further notice, though the port remains open to trucks, Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld said.

Last year, the port handled a record 52.3m tons of foreign cargo worth $80bn (£63bn), according to the state. In addition to cargo, more than 444,000 passengers cruised out of the port in 2023.

The port is a major east coast hub for shipping. The bridge spans the Patapsco River, which massive cargo ships use to reach the Chesapeake Bay and then the Atlantic Ocean.

The Dali was headed from Baltimore to Colombo, Sri Lanka, and flying under a Singapore flag, according to data from Marine Traffic.

President Biden said that he plans to travel to Baltimore “as quickly as I can” and that he expects the federal government to pick up the entire cost of rebuilding the bridge.

Has this ever happened before?

From 1960 to 2015, there were 35 major bridge collapses worldwide due to ship or barge collisions, with a total of 342 people killed, according to a 2018 report from the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure.

Eighteen of those collapses happened in the United States.

Among them were a 2002 incident in which a barge struck the Interstate 40 bridge over the Arkansas River at Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, sending vehicles plunging into the water. Fourteen people died and 11 were injured.

In 2001, a tugboat and barge struck the Queen Isabella Causeway in Port Isabel, Texas, causing a section of the bridge to tumble 80 feet into the bay below. Eight people were killed.

In 1993, barges being pushed by a towboat in dense fog hit and displaced the Big Bayou Canot railroad bridge near Mobile, Alabama.

Minutes later, an Amtrak train with 220 people onboard reached the displaced bridge and derailed, killing 47 people and injuring 103 others.

World

President Raisi’s death a perilous moment for Iran regime – but don’t expect a change to foreign policy

Published

5 hours ago

May 20, 2024

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President Raisi's death a perilous moment for Iran regime - but don't expect a change to foreign policy

This is a delicate time for Iran. President Raisi was the second most important man in Iran, after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

His death, now confirmed, will have far-reaching consequences.

Although Khamenei has tried to reassure the country in recent hours, the regime will know this is a perilous moment that must be handled carefully.

Live updates – Iranian president killed in crash

There are mechanisms to protect the regime in events like this and the Revolutionary Guard, which was founded in 1979 precisely for that purpose, will be a major player in what comes next.

In the immediate term, vice-president Mohammed Mokhber will assume control and elections will be held within 50 days.

Mokhber isn’t as close to the supreme leader as Raisi was, and won’t enjoy his standing, but he has run much of Khamenei’s finances for years and is credited with helping Iran evade some of the many sanctions levied on it.

Raisi’s successor will most likely be the chosen candidate of the supreme leader and certainly another ultra-conservative hardliner – a shift back to the moderates is highly unlikely.

Likewise, we shouldn’t expect any significant change in Iran’s foreign activities or involvement with the war in Gaza. It will be business as usual, as much as possible.

However, after years of anti-government demonstrations following the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022, this might be a moment for the protest movement to rise up and take to the streets again.

Islamic State may seek to take advantage

There are also many dissident groups inside Iran, including an off-shoot of Islamic State – they might seek to take advantage of this situation.

Raisi became president in 2021 at the second time of asking and only with a turnout of 41%, the lowest since the 1979 revolution.

He was not a universally popular figure and many inside Iran will celebrate his death.

Consequences for supreme leader

Longer term, Raisi’s death will have consequences for the supreme leader.

He was considered one of the two frontrunners to succeed Ayatollah Ali Khamanei on his death – the other being Khamanei’s son Mojtaba.

For religious and conservative Iranians, Raisi’s death will be mourned; for many though, it will be the passing of a man who had blood on his hands.

World

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi confirmed dead in helicopter crash after charred wreckage found

Published

6 hours ago

May 20, 2024

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Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi confirmed dead in helicopter crash after charred wreckage found

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has died after the helicopter he was travelling in crashed in a mountainous area of northwest Iran.

Rescuers found the burned remains of the aircraft on Monday morning after the president and his foreign minister had been missing for more than 12 hours.

“President Raisi, the foreign minister and all the passengers in the helicopter were killed in the crash,” a senior Iranian official told Reuters, asking not to be named.

Live updates – Iranian president killed in crash

Iran‘s Mehr news agency reported “all passengers of the helicopter carrying the Iranian president and foreign minister were martyred”.

State TV said images showed it had smashed into a mountain peak, although there was no official word on the cause of the crash.

“President Raisi’s helicopter was completely burned in the crash… unfortunately, all passengers are feared dead,” an official told Reuters.

As the sun rose, rescuers saw the wreckage from around 1.25 miles, the head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, Pir Hossein Kolivand, told state media.

Iranian news agency IRNA said the president was flying in an American-made Bell 212 helicopter.

Mr Raisi, 63, who was seen as a frontrunner to succeed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Iran’s supreme leader, was travelling back from Azerbaijan where he had opened a dam with the country’s president.

Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, also died in the crash.

The governor of East Azerbaijan province and other officials and bodyguards were also said to have been on board when the helicopter crashed in fog on Sunday.

Iranian media initially described it as a “hard landing”.

The chief of staff of Iran’s army had ordered all military resources and the Revolutionary Guard to be deployed in the search, which had been hampered by bad weather.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first to react to the news of Mr Raisi’s death.

“India stands with Iran in this time of sorrow,” he said in a post on X.

World

Ebrahim Raisi: Who is hardliner Iranian president?

Published

8 hours ago

May 20, 2024

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Ebrahim Raisi: Who is hardliner Iranian president?

A helicopter carrying Iran’s president crashed during bad weather on Sunday.

But who is Ebrahim Raisi – a leader who faces sanctions from the US and other nations over his involvement in the mass execution of prisoners in 1988.

The president, 63, who was travelling alongside the foreign minister and two other key Iranian figures when their helicopter crashed, had been travelling across the far northwest of Iran following a visit to Azerbaijan.

Follow live: Rescuers search for president after helicopter crash

Mr Raisi is a hardliner and former head of the judiciary who some have suggested could one day replace Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Because of his part in the sentencing of thousands of prisoners of conscience to death back in the 1980s, he was nicknamed the Butcher of Tehran as he sat on the so-called Death Panel, for which he was then sanctioned by the US.

Both a revered and a controversial figure, Mr Raisi supported the country’s security services as they cracked down on all dissent, including in the aftermath of the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini – the woman who died after she was arrested for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly – and the nationwide protests that followed.

The months-long security crackdown killed more than 500 people and saw over 22,000 detained.

In March, a United Nations investigative panel found that Iran was responsible for the “physical violence” that led to Ms Amini’s death after her arrest for not wearing a hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities.

The president also supported Iran’s unprecedented decision in April to launch a drone and missile attack on Israel amid its war with Hamas, the ruling militant group in Gaza responsible for the 7 October attacks which saw 1,200 people killed in southern Israel.

Involvement in mass executions

Mr Raisi is sanctioned by the US in part over his involvement in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 at the end of the bloody Iran-Iraq war.

Under the president, Iran now enriches uranium at nearly weapons-grade levels and hampers international inspections.

Iran has armed Russia in its war on Ukraine and has continued arming proxy groups in the Middle East, such as Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

He successfully ran for the presidency back in August 2021 in a vote that got the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history as all of his potentially prominent opponents were barred from running under Iran’s vetting system.

A presidency run in 2017 saw him lose to Hassan Rouhani, the relatively moderate cleric who as president reached Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

‘Very involved in anything’

Alistair Bunkall, Sky News’s Middle East correspondent, said the president is “a major figure in Iranian political and religious society” but “he’s not universally popular by any means” as his administration has seen a series of protests in the past few years against his and the government’s “hardline attitude”.

Mr Raisi is nonetheless “considered one of the two frontrunners to potentially take over” the Iranian regime when the current supreme leader dies, Bunkall said.

He added the president would have been “instrumental” in many of Iran’s activities in the region as he “would’ve been very involved in anything particularly what has been happening in Israel and the surrounding areas like Lebanon and Gaza and the Houthis over the last seven and a bit months”.