In the early morning of March 26, local time, a bridge in Baltimore, USA, was hit by a container ship, and the bridge collapsed.
In the accident, 8 construction workers were killed and fell into the water, and only 2 were successfully rescued. A number of cars fell into the sea, the entire port was shut down, and the economy suffered heavy losses.
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Some claim it was a "terrorist attack", while others believe that the collapse of the bridge was simply due to disrepair.
So what happened to the Baltimore Bridge accident? Let's take a look.
1. The controversial video of the accident
At around 1:30 a.m. local time on March 26, a Singapore-flagged container ship named "Dali" slowly left the port of Baltimore and headed for Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka.
According to the video, when approaching the direction of the bridge, the cargo ship "Dali" suddenly began to slow down, and the lights on the hull were all dimmed.
After about a minute, the lights came back on, but black smoke was already billowing from the hull, and after only a dozen seconds, the lights went out again, and the direction of the hull gradually deviated from the original course, turning and crashing into the bridge.
Before fully hitting the bridge, the lights of the "Dalí" were back on again, and the ship seemed to be trying to change course, but to no avail.
With a loud bang, the large cargo ship "Dalí", with a speed of fifteen kilometers per hour, crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
The bridge, which had lost the support of its piers, broke in four parts in 10 seconds, and people and vehicles fell into the Patapusco River below the bridge, and the flames of the explosion rose into the sky, and the situation was terrifying.
There are many speculations and doubts about the cause of the accident and the attitude of the United States in dealing with it.
1. How many casualties are there? Can the United States save people?
In the early days of the accident, the U.S. fire department believed that more than two dozen people should have been killed, and so did the media exposure.
However, at the press conference on the morning of the 26th, the governor of Maryland announced that it was confirmed that only eight construction workers on the bridge fell into the water in the accident.
Although rescuers used infrared and sonar technology, four cars and a cement truck were found in the water. The governor still declared, "We believe that only eight construction workers were killed in the water, and there was no one in the rest of the vehicles." ”
On the evening of the 26th, the U.S. Overseas Guard deduced that the remaining six victims had no chance of survival based on factors such as the time of the accident and the low temperature in the water, so the rescue operation was stopped.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott announced on social media that the rescue operation will start again on the 27th.
2. Is the "Dali" cargo ship hitting the bridge with a power outage out of control and a strange route a terrorist attack?
The cargo ship Dalí began sea transportation work in 2015, with a hull length of about 985 feet (300 meters) and a width of about 157 feet (48 meters), carrying a total of 4,679 containers at the time of the incident.
According to the monitoring data of the ship's operation, the vessel involved "Dali" had lost power due to a power outage 20-30 seconds before it hit the bridge, and sent a distress signal early in the morning, giving Maryland authorities time to regulate traffic on the bridge and reduce damage.
The American Professional Association of Pilots states:
Although the "Dali" then activated the emergency generator, its power could not support the power system that ran the entire hull, and the impact on the bridge was an inevitable consequence.
The lights flickered briefly and black smoke rose from the hull, possibly as a result of the emergency diesel generator.
According to Diamond, at that time, the navigator had already given the order and made a remedial measure in time, turning the left rudder to the maximum and lowering the anchor.
Bizarrely, some media reported that as early as June last year, the ship had been detected to have problems with the "propulsion system and auxiliary equipment".
The fact that a ship that has been found to have power problems can continue to sail at sea is inevitably suspicious, especially since the recent terrorist attack in a concert in Russia has caused similar suspicions.
Although, according to the inspectors, the problem with the hull is not big and will not reach the point of stopping sailing. But it stands to reason that knowing that there is a problem, you should check more carefully before sailing.
And this time, the power was out of control as soon as they left the port, and it was obviously not "no big problem" as they claimed.
There is still no explanation for the power failure, but the U.S. government insists that it was just a normal navigation accident and had nothing to do with a "terrorist attack."
3. Was China involved in the collision of a ship on the Baltimore Bridge?
After the accident, a photo circulated online that said that CNN of the United States attributed the blame for the Baltimore Bridge crash to China, saying that "a ship loaded with Chinese cargo attacked our bridge." ”
It was confirmed that this was a fake message, and there was no evidence that it was CNN's official opinion.
Second, the bridge collapsed, and shipping suffered heavy losses
The bridge where the accident occurred was named Francis Scott Key Bridge, located on the Patapusko River in Baltimore, Maryland, and was completed in 1972 and opened to traffic in March 1977, with a length of about 2.6 kilometers and a history of 52 years.
The bridge is a two-way, four-lane steel-framed bridge named after Francis Scott Kee, the lyricist of the American national anthem "Star-Spangled Banner," and is an important interchange for Interstate 695 in the United States.
According to statistics, at least 30,000 cars pass on the bridge every day, and there are countless pedestrians going back and forth several times.
The March 26 accident caused severe damage to the bridge, the bridge deck was broken in four sections, and the debris entering the water blocked the entrance to Altimore Harbor, and the U.S. Navy and Army are working together to clean it up.
On March 31, local time, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said that the wreckage could not be completely cleaned up at present, and it would take time for the entire port to resume traffic.
The main bridge is expected to be completely dismantled on April 6, at which point a route will be opened for small boats.
The economic damage caused by this is immeasurable.
The Port of Altimore is one of the largest and most active ports in the United States, with a port throughput of 52.3 million tons in 2023 and a total economic value of $80 billion.
If the port continues or is shut down for a long time, it will inevitably lead to economic damage in Baltimore City, and if it continues, it will cause unemployment, bankruptcy, and even affect the surrounding areas, affecting social stability and development.
Renovating the bridge as soon as possible is the first priority, but there is a bipartisan dispute in the United States over who will fund it.
On March 26, U.S. President Joe Biden declared the bridge collapse a "nationwide horror" and that the federal government would bear the huge cost of building the bridge.
The value of the Baltimore Bridge is not confined to Maryland, a view shared by some Democrats.
Republicans are adamantly opposed, arguing that the federal government is not now able to take on more national debt, and that the Baltimore Bridge should be repaired by the local government in Maryland.
It has also been argued that the party responsible for the vessel involved should bear part of the cost of repairing the bridge.
Congress decided to discuss repairs to the bridge in mid-April, and experts say it will cost billions of dollars to repair the entire bridge.
In fact, just before the accident, the local government of Maryland planned to rehabilitate the Baltimore Bridge by 2025, replace the bridge deck and install protective sleeves for the piers.
In addition, it is worth noting that the infrastructure construction in the United States has always had problems such as disrepair and aging.
Of the 617,000 bridges currently available, 231,000 need to be repaired.
The work of sorting out the wreckage of the bridge continues, no further casualties have been reported, and the repair of the bridge is imminent, and the two parties are arguing over the issue of debt spending, which is not certain.
We will continue to monitor the follow-up developments and follow up on the report in a timely manner.