The governor of Maryland has said Baltimore has “a very long road ahead” following the city’s bridge collapse – as it was revealed all the crew on board the ship that crashed into it are in “good health”.
Governor Wes Moore’s comments came as he spoke about the clean-up operation following the Francis Scott Key bridge disasterduring a news conference on Thursday.
He offered a rallying cry to the city and said that with “all speed and safety” officials planned to rebuild the structure.
The governor added: “I’m calling on everyone to do their part – in this game, no one gets to sit on the sidelines. We need every single Baltimorer and every single Marylander to help us.”
It comes after the Dali, a 300m (985ft) cargo ship, struck one of the bridge’s supports, causing it to break and fall into the water.
The vessel was headed from Baltimore to Colombo, Sri Lanka, at the time, according to data from Marine Traffic.
Officials from across different levels of the US government are currently attempting to raise funds to rebuild the bridge, the governor added.
Britannia, the insurer of the Dali, is also working with the vessel’s owner and US authorities on the investigation into what happened.
HOW DID THE BALTIMORE BRIDGE COLLAPSE UNFOLD?
Here we take a look at an update timeline of the collapse on Tuesday 26 March from the NTSB.
• 12.39am: The ship departed from Seagirt Marine Terminal.
• 1.07am: The ship had entered the Fort McHenry Channel.
• 1.24am: The ship was on a heading underway on a true heading of approx. 141 degrees at a speed of 8 knots / 9.2mph
• 1.24.59am: Numerous audible alarms were recorded on the ship’s bridge audio. At around the same time, VDR sensor data ceased recording, but it still picked up audio using the redundant power source.
• 1.26.02am: VDR resumed recording sensor data. Steering commands and rudder orders were recorded on the audio at this time.
• 1.26.39am: The ship’s pilot made a general very high frequency (VHF) radio call for tugs in the vicinity to assist. At the same time the pilot association dispatcher phoned the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) duty officer regarding the blackout.
• 1.27.04am: The pilot ordered the Dali to drop the port anchor and ordered additional steering commands.
• 1.27.25am: The pilot issued a radio call over the VHF radio, reporting that the Dali had lost all power and was approaching the bridge. MDTA data shows that their duty officer radioed two of their units on each side of the bridge to close traffic. All lanes were then shut down by MDTA.
• 1.29am: The ship’s speed over ground was just under 7 knots / 8pmh.
• 1.29.33am: The VDR audio recorded sounds consistent with the collision of the bridge, and MDTA dash cameras show the bridge lights extinguishing.
• 1.29.39am: The pilot reported the bridge down over the VFH radio to the Coast Guard.
Meanwhile, of the 21 crew members, 20 are said to be Indian nationals, according to the country’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal.
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He said: “Our information is that there are 21 crew members, of which 20 are Indians. All of them are in good shape, good health.
“One of them got injured slightly, needed to have some stitches. The stitches have been given, and he’s then gone back to the ship. Our embassy is in close touch with the Indians, onboard and also with local authorities in this matter.”
Image: A satellite image of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Pic: AP
It comes after authorities said a pilot on board the vessel tried to swing it clear of the bridge by dropping its port anchor to pivot it away.
The pilot and a second senior member of staff on board at the time are to be interviewed by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Thursday.
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CCTV shows the vessel losing power, start smoking and eventually hitting the bridge
The US Coast Guard also confirmed the container ship’s engines had undergone routine maintenance while in the Baltimore port.
Four other people are still missing, presumed dead.
They are all construction workers who were said to be working in the middle section of the bridge, according to Jeffrey Pritzker, executive vice president of Brawner Builders.
Colonel Roland L. Butler Jr, from Maryland State Police, said further efforts to recover remains had been suspended because of the increasingly treacherous conditions.
Officials said the recovery mission is now a salvage operation because it was no longer safe for divers to navigate or operate around the debris and concrete in the port.
Police have said sonar information has led officials to believe vehicles still trapped underwater are encased in concrete and parts of the bridge that crashed down following the collision.
On Friday, Paola Paiva waited in a hotel near Caracas airport, nervous but giddy with excitement to be reunited with her brother, finally.
For five months, Arturo Suarez has been detained in a notorious prison in El Salvador.
“I am going to wait for my brother to call me,” she told Sky News, “and after giving him a hug, I want to just listen to him, listen to his voice. Let him talk and tell us his story.”
Suarez was one of the more than 250 Venezuelan migrants who had been living in America but were arrested in immigration raids by the Trump administration and sent to El Salvador, a showpiece act in the president’s promise to deport millions of migrants.
Image: Paola Paiva holds a vigil for brother Arturo Suarez. Pic: Reuters
Most of the men had never even been to El Salvador before. Their detention has been controversial because the White House claims the men are all part of the dangerous Tren de Aragua gang but has provided little evidence to support this assertion.
The only evidence Paola had that Suarez was still alive was a picture of him published on a news website showing the inside of the maximum security CECOT jail.
He is one of dozens of men with their hands and feet cuffed, heads shaved and bodies shackled together.
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Now he is returning to his home country, one of the bargaining chips in a deal that saw the release of ten Americans and US permanent residents who had been seized by the Venezuelan authorities.
Image: Venezuelans arrive back in home country after being detained in El Salvador
Paola had tried to go to the airport to greet her brother as he disembarked a charter plane bringing the men back from El Salvador but authorities told her to wait at a nearby hotel.
“They told us they are taking them all to a hotel to rest,” she said.
“But I managed to get someone to give my phone number on a piece of paper to my brother, so I am expecting his call tomorrow, as soon as he can access a phone.
“We heard they are going to perform some medical exams on them and check their criminal records,” she added. “I’m not afraid; I’m not worried since my brother has a clean record.
“I am so happy. I knew this day would happen, and that it would be unexpected, that no one was going to notify us. I knew it was going to be a total surprise.”
Image: US citizens released from Venezuela. Pic: Reuters
The Trump administration had paid the El Salvador government, led by President Nayib Bukele, millions of dollars to imprison the men.
Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem visited CECOT last month, posing in front of prisoners for a photo opportunity.
But Cristosal, an international human rights group based in El Salvador, says it has “documented systematic physical beatings, torture, intentional denial of access to food, water, clothing, health care,” inside the prison.
A video which was seemingly filmed aboard the charter flight bringing the Venezuelan migrants back to Caracas shows Arturo briefly talking about his experience inside.
He looks physically well but speaks into the camera and says: “We were four months with no communication, no phone calls, kidnapped, we didn’t know what (the) day was, not even the time.
“We were beat up at breakfast, lunch and dinner,” he continues.
Sky News interviewed Arturo Suarez‘s brother Nelson near his home in the US in April, weeks after Arturo – an aspiring singer – had been arrested by immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) agents while filming a music video inside a house.
Nelson said he believed Arturo’s only crime was “being Venezuelan and having tattoos.” He showed me documents that indicate Arturo has no criminal record in Venezuela, Chile, Colombia or the United States, the four countries he has lived in.
Now Nelson is delighted Arturo is being released – but worries for his future.
“The only thing that casts a shadow in such a moment of joy is that bit of anger when I think that all the governments involved are going to use my brother’s story, and the others on that flight, as political gain,” he said.
“Each of them will tell a different story, making themselves the heroes, when the reality is that many innocent people suffered unfairly and unnecessarily, and many families will remain separated after this incident due to politics, immigration and fear.”
At least 34 people have died after a tourist boat capsized in Vietnam, according to state media reports.
The Wonder Sea boat was reportedly carrying 53 people, including five crew members, when it capsized due to strong winds in Ha Long Bay on Saturday.
It happened at roughly 2pm local time (7am GMT). Rescue teams have found 11 survivors and recovered 34 bodies, eight of them children, the state-run Vietnam News Agency said, citing local authorities.
Image: Rescuer in Ha Long Bay are searching for survivors. Pic: QDND via AP
The People’s Army Newspaper, which cited local border guards, said authorities have not yet confirmed details about the tourists, including their nationalities, as the rescue operation continues.
Most of the passengers were tourists, including about 20 children, from the country’s capital city, Hanoi, the newspaper said.
The incident comes shortly after the arrival of Storm Wipha in the South China Sea, bringing strong winds, heavy rain and lightning to the area.
Image: A body being carried on stretcher after a tourist boat capsized in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. Pic: QDND via AP
The named storm is the third typhoon to hit the South China Sea this year, and is expected to make landfall along the northern coast of Vietnam early next week.
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Disruptions linked to the storm have also had an impact on air travel, according to Noi Bai Airport.
The airport reported that nine incoming flights were diverted to other airports, while three outgoing flights were temporarily grounded due to adverse weather conditions.
Image: Tourist boats cruise in Halong Bay. File pic: Reuters
The winds brought by Storm Wipha reached up to 63mph (101kmph) and gusts of up to 68mph (126kmph) as it passed south of Taiwan on Saturday, according to the island’s Central News Agency.
More than 30 people have been killed after Israeli troops opened fire towards crowds of Palestinians waiting for aid, according to witnesses and hospital officials.
The deaths occurred near distribution hubs operated by the US-Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the territory.
At least 32 people were killed on Saturday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, while a further 100 people were injured, according to local reports.
Most of the deaths came as Palestinians massed in the Teina area, around 3km (2 miles) away from a GHF aid distribution centre east of the city of Khan Younis.
Image: More than 30 people killed near aid distribution centres. Pic: Mariam Dagga/AP
Mahmoud Mokeimar said he was walking with crowds of people – mostly young men – towards the food hub when troops fired warning shots as the crowd advanced, before opening fire towards the marching people.
“It was a massacre… the occupation opened fire at us indiscriminately,” he said.
Image: Injured Palestinians are brought to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Pic: Mariam Dagga/AP
Akram Aker said troops fired machine guns mounted on tanks and drones.
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“They encircled us and started firing directly at us,” he said.
The Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said it received 25 bodies, along with dozens of wounded.
Seven other people, including one woman, were killed in the Shakoush area, hundreds of yards north of another GHF hub in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, the hospital said.
The army and GHF did not immediately comment on Saturday’s violence.
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The GFH, which has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip, says it has distributed millions of meals to hungry Palestinians.
But local health officials and witnesses say hundreds of people have been killed by Israeli army fire as they try to reach the distribution hubs.
The GHF, which employs private armed guards, says there have been no deadly shootings at its sites, though this week, 20 people were killed at one of its locations, most of them in a stampede.
The group accused Hamas agitators of causing a panic, but gave no evidence to back the claim.
The army, which is not at the sites but secures them from a distance, says it only fires warning shots if crowds get too close to its forces.
The 21-month war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage.
An Israeli military offensive has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, while Gaza’s more than two million Palestinians are living through a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
Israel and Hamas have been holding ceasefire talks in Qatar in recent weeks, but international mediators say there have been no breakthroughs.
US President Donald Trump said another 10 hostages will be released from Gaza shortly, without providing details.