Container ship lost power before bridge collision, says Maryland governor

This is CBC News Network and you’ve been watching officials in Baltimore giving this news conference updating us on the Francis Scott Key bridge which collapsed overnight early this morning I should say at around 1:30 a.m. local time after a large container ship hit a support column officials say Vehicles were on

That bridge and they are now conducting an ongoing search and rescue operation and we do have in-depth team coverage we’re going to go first now to Richard Madden who’s standing by in DC before getting to Katie Simpson who is on the scene Richard let’s talk first now about

The comments that we heard from various officials including the governor of Maryland about this breaking news development yeah we heard from Governor West Moore and other top officials the governor saying this morning uh the state of Maryland is in shock he said he found out about the collapse literally

Minutes after it happened and promptly declared a state of emergency you also heard in the update he said the focus is on the Urgent Rescue Mission that’s now underway now all officials reiterated that this is a massive all handson deck response we saw the FBI the governor uh

Reiterating that this appears to be an accident and there’s no evidence of terrorism uh they also said the governor said that the cargo ship issued a Mayday moments before the collapse which led officials stop vehicles from crossing over possibly saving some lives uh the government was also asked if there was

Any structural issue on the the bridge that may have contributed to This Disaster he said no uh dive teams as we know are now on this urgent rescue mission for survivors whose Vehicles may have plunged into the freezing water below and as you noted this happened

Around 1:30 a.m. local time so it was Pitch Black outside when that big cargo ship crashed into some of the support beams uh holding up the Francis Scott keybridge collapsing it into the water sending people and vehicles with it uh officials also confirmed that there were crew doing routine maintenance on the

Bridge at the time of the collapse and just to give you some context here this is a very large Bridge it spans about 2 and 1 12 kilometers above the popsico river uh and that flows up to the Chesapeake and the Atlantic Ocean it has four lanes and it’s part of a major

Interstate highway Network near Baltimore’s Harbor uh cargo ships routinely pass under the bridge on the way to the busy Port uh it’s the second busiest port in the Mid-Atlantic region um we also heard that crews are still using Sonar to detect vehicles in the river uh but there are uh major

Challenges in these rescue efforts the water is freezing and the conditions are unsafe you look at the uh images that we’re seeing here there’s Twisted Metal in concrete hanging from the B Bridge which makes it uh concerning for those rescue workers uh the Waterway into and

Out of the port has since been closed the FAA has issued a no fly order over the disaster Zone which includes drones but I got got to tell you the implications here are going to be massive because this is a major port for new vehicles and big items shipped from

Overseas so the first priority priority as we heard is rescue recovery uh and then they’ll talk accountability but all of this will be followed by a rebuilding of this massive four-lane bridge that serves as a major artery for Commerce and transportation along a very busy Northeast Corridor the cbc’s Richard

Madden reporting from Washington thank you rich you bet and as you’ve heard six people are believed to be missing and we know there are still cars submerged under the water but it’s not believ that anyone is trapped in those vehicles at this time the six people believed missing are connected to the

Construction work that was taking place on the bridge in difficult conditions windy weather frigid and choppy Waters and it’s been more than 9 hours now since that bridge collapsed divers are in those Waters right now searching for victims and the cbc’s Katie Simpson is now in Baltimore she’s on the scene and

She joins us live Katie you know we’ve been listening to that press conference where officials were talking about the ongoing search and rescue operation can you talk to us about what you’re seeing from where you’re standing when you first pull up to this area and you get us you get the to see

The scale and the scope of the destruction it actually takes your breath away I’m going to sort of get out of the way my colleague Jonathan who’s operating the camera right now he’s going to show you what we can see from from our vantage point this is where

Tens of thousands of people every day would get on the bridge normally for their daily commute to work but as you can see uh the bridge goes up and then suddenly it it looks as someone has come in with a saw and just sawed it right

Off that is what is left of the Key Bridge this very vital Transportation artery through Baltimore and of course the search and rescue operation is the priority right now uh we heard the coast guards involved in the search right now they’re using sonar they’re trying to

Track down those six people who were um uh part of that construction crew that was doing routine maintenance on this bridge at the time it collapsed uh that right now is the priority for authorities who are doing everything they can to try and find those six missing people of course there were some

Questions at that news conference about exactly how many cars were actually on the bridge at the time it collapsed as we heard from Richard the timeline here is uh part of the investigation and we know that uh the the crew on the ship was able to get out a Mayday message to

Authorities on land uh about whatever was going on whatever was going wrong with that ship it allowed authorities to start the slow or stop the flow of traffic onto this bridge but we didn’t get a crystal clear answer from authorities about whether there were actual cars on the bridge or what

Exactly happened how many were there if that was the case so that’s all a part of the search and rescue operation it is the priority right now but again let me just step out of the way one more time and my colleague Jonathan will show you

Um you can see the base of the bridge right here and there’s a point uh where it just ends and it’s it’s it’s where the destruction of this bridge after a key support beam was struck uh it fell like a shoelace I’ve heard it described just dropping into the water and that’s

What’s left of it right now the cbc’s ktie Simpson on the scene in Baltimore thank you Katie

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore says the crew of the container ship that struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore issued a mayday when the ship lost power before the collision.

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