Baltimore bridge collapse: First missing worker named – as rescue mission becomes a recovery operation
President Biden has promised that he will visit Baltimore “as soon as possible” after a major bridge collapsed – as officials say the rescue mission for the six missing people has now become a recovery operation.
Miguel Luna, from El Salvador, was one of the six people on the Francis Scott Key Bridge when it collapsed after being hit by a 289m-long cargo ship.
Those missing were reported to be construction workers who were on the bridge fixing potholes. All six worked for Brawner Builders, and are presumed dead by authorities.
Miguel Luna is missing presumed dead. Pic: Family photo via NBC
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A relative of Mr Luna told Sky News they were distraught as they waited for news about him, and said that some members of his family were taken by police to a location in Baltimore where they could be with the other families of the missing.
Jose Campos, a colleage of Mr Luna, also told Sky: “My supervisor called me in the morning and told me they had rescued one of my colleagues but he was in a coma.
“I never imagined something this awful could happen. The path where the boat goes was supposed to be a safe zone.”
The 1.6-mile long bridge crashed into the Patapsco River at 1.30am local time (5.30am UK time) on Tuesday. Joe Biden was quick to say to the “People of Baltimore, we’re with you,” and added the search and rescue operation was a “top priority”.
The search has now been suspended for the night and will resume at first light, but US Coast Guard and Maryland State Police officials have said that based on the frigid temperature of the water and the length of time that had elapsed since the bridge came down there was little if any chance that the six could be found alive.
Eight people were initially unaccounted for, with two of them having been rescued from the water.
One of them is described as being in a “very serious condition” in hospital while the other was not injured.
Meanwhile, the US president said the federal government will cover the “full cost” of rebuilding the bridge. He said it may emerge a private company was responsible for the disaster, but his government is “not going to wait” to begin the rebuilding process.
Mr Biden told reporters at the White House: “It’s my intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge and I expect Congress to support my effort.”
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Everything we know about the Baltimore bridge collapse.
The US president continued: “Everything so far indicates that this was a terrible accident. At this time we have no other indication, no other reason to believe there’s any intentional act here.
“Personnel on board the ship were able to alert the Maryland Department of Transportation that they had lost control of their vessel.”
Mr Biden added that this meant local authorities were able to close the bridge before it was struck which “undoubtedly saved lives”.
He continued: “Our prayers are with everyone involved in this terrible accident and all the families [affected], especially those waiting for news of their loved one right now. I know every minute in that circumstance feels like a lifetime.”
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The US president also said authorities will be working to get the port open again as soon as possible.
The Port of Baltimore, which is accessed or departed by going underneath the bridge, is one of the US’ largest shipping hubs.
Mr Biden said 15,000 jobs depend on the port.
“We’re going to do everything we can to protect those jobs,” he added.
He continued: “I’ve directed my team to move heaven and earth to reopen the port and rebuild the bridge as soon as humanly possible.”
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‘They thought it was an earthquake’
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Timeline of Baltimore bridge collapse
Baltimore fire department’s communications chief Kevin Cartwright has said there were multiple vehicles on the bridge when it was struck by the ship, one of which was the size of a tractor trailer.
CCTV and marine tracking data shows the ship, known as the Dali, lost power, adjusted its course and started smoking about 60 seconds before it hit the bridge.
According to the timings on the CCTV, the vessel hit the structure at 1.28:44am – with the bridge collapsing four seconds later.
All 22 crew members on board the ship, including the two pilots, have been accounted for and there were no reports of injuries.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said in a news conference that its investigators will not board the Dali on Tuesday.
The authority’s chair Jennifer Homendy said the decision has been made to give “some time to the search and recovery effort”.
“We did not want to interfere,” she added.
Ms Homendy explained the NTSB will be able to provide more information in the “coming days”, and voyager data recorder information will be “critical”.
She said the NTSB will be leading the investigation and the Coast Guard will support it.
The same ship 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.
The vessel was reportedly damaged in the incident, but there were no injuries or pollution issues reported.
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Aerial view of Baltimore bridge crash
Meanwhile, Mayor of Baltimore, Brandon Scott has declared a local state of emergency which will be in place for the next 30 days as the search for the missing continues.
The NTSB is also conducting an investigation into the incident.
The Singapore-flagged ship was headed to Colombo in Sri Lanka at the time of the collision.
It was chartered by Danish shipping company Maersk, which said it was “horrified by what has happened”. It said its thoughts were with everyone affected.
The Port of Baltimore is the 11th largest in the US, meaning its closure will cause knock-on effects for the industry.
Built in 1977, the Francis Scott Key Bridge is one of the longest continuous truss bridges in the world, according to the National Steel Bridge Alliance.
It was named after the writer of The Star-Spangled Banner, the national anthem of the US, which was penned after a War of 1812 US-UK battle in Baltimore harbour.
Donald Trump has signed an executive order to open a migrant detention centre at Guantanamo Bay.
Speaking before making the act official, Mr Trump said that thousands of migrants who cannot be deported to their home countries will be held at the complex, on the island of Cuba.
“I’m also signing an executive order to instruct the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to begin preparing the 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay,” he said.
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“Most people don’t even know about it. We have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.
“Some of them are so bad we don’t even trust the countries to hold them, because we don’t want them coming back.”
It comes as Mr Trump’s controversial pick for health secretary – Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – faced a hearing committee where he was grilled on his views, including on vaccines and abortion.
At its peak, about 680 people were held at the American-run prison in Cuba. File pic: AP
Guantanamo Bay was set up in 2002 by then president George W. Bush to hold detainees in the wake of 9/11 and the War on Terror.
Only 15 prisoners – including Ramzi bin al Shibh, accused of being a 9/11 co-conspirator – remain at the detention centre.
At its peak, about 680 people, most suspected of terrorism and being “illegal enemy combatants”, were held at the American-run prison in Cuba.
The facility has been criticised by human rights groups and legal campaigners over potential breaches of international laws and conditions.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel deemed the decision as “an act of brutality” in a message on his X account, and he described the base as one “located in illegally occupied Cuba territory”.
In response to Mr Trump’s announcement, former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci – who briefly served under the previous Trump administration – said: “Also known as a concentration camp.
“Yet no dissent. No courageous political leader willing to stand up to this.”
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Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Kennedy – the president’s pick to be health secretary – faced a grilling over his views on vaccines, abortion and Medicaid at a Senate confirmation hearing.
Appearing at the Capitol, Democratic senators raised some of the 71-year-old’s previous remarks comparing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to Nazi death camps, linking school shootings to antidepressants, and his claim that “no vaccine is safe and effective”.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr was grilled on vaccines, abortion and Medicaid at his confirmation hearing. Pic: AP
One senator, Sheldon Whitehouse, told Mr Kennedy “frankly, you frighten people” when discussing an outbreak of measles in Rhode Island – its first since 2013.
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The nominee said he did “not have a broad proposal for dismantling” Medicaid – a state and federal taxpayer-funded healthcare programme – and dismissed claims he was anti-vaccine by saying his children were vaccinated.
Mr Kennedy – the son of Robert F Kennedy and nephew of former US president John F Kennedy – was also questioned on his previous support for abortion and was shown statements as recent as from when he was running for president as an independent.
He said he now agrees with the president that “every abortion is a tragedy”.
Federal funding pause memo rescinded
It also comes after Mr Trump’s budget office rescinded an order freezing spending on federal grants – less than two days after it sparked legal challenges across the US.
The order on Monday sparked uncertainty over a financial lifeline for states, schools and organisations that rely on trillions of dollars from Washington.
However, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Sky’s US partner network NBC that the freeze itself has not been withdrawn and that it was simply a cancellation of the memo ordering it.
Lord Mandelson says calling Donald Trump a “danger to the world” in 2019 was “ill-judged and wrong”.
The former Labour minister has been named as the next UK ambassador to the US, although there have been questions about whether President Trump will accept him.
Speaking to Fox News, Lord Mandelson walked back his criticisms from the president’s first term in office.
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The 71-year-old told the conservative-backing US TV channel: “I consider my remarks about President Trump as ill-judged and wrong.
“I think times and attitudes towards the president have changed since then.
“I think people have been impressed, not just by the extraordinary second mandate that he has received from the American people, but the dynamism and energy with which he approached not just the campaign but government as well.”
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Many Labour figures, including the now Foreign Secretary David Lammy, criticised Mr Trump before, during and after his first term in the White House.
Now they are in government and Mr Trump is back in power in Washington DC, language has become more diplomatic.
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Lord Mandelson told the Alain Elkann Interviews podcast previously: “What Donald Trump represents and believes is an anathema to mainstream British opinion.”
He added: “Even those who have a sneaking admiration for Donald Trump because of his personality, nonetheless regard him as reckless, and a danger to the world.”
The likely new ambassador criticised Mr Trump’s attitude to a previous holder of that office, and said the president was “little short of a white nationalist and a racist”.
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Speaking now, Lord Mandelson praised Mr Trump, saying he was a “nice” and “fair-minded person” who could become “one of the most consequential American presidents I have known in my adult life”.
He added: “I think that with the approach he is taking to government, which frankly just seems to us in Britain so much more organised, it’s so much more coherent, he seems to be so much more clear in what he wants to do, we take encouragement from that, that gives us greater confidence.”
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