Baltimore | Cranes begin removing pieces of collapsed bridge

(Baltimore) A crane arrived at the site of a collapsed highway bridge in Baltimore, as crews prepared Friday to begin clearing the wreckage that has blocked the search for the four missing workers and prevented vessels from reaching entering or leaving the city’s vital port.

A crane capable of lifting 1,000 tons — described as the largest on the East Coast — was expected to arrive Thursday evening, and a second, capable of lifting 400 tons, was expected to arrive Saturday, authorities said earlier. They will be used to clear the channel of the twisted metal and concrete remains of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, as well as the cargo ship that struck it this week.

Divers had previously recovered the bodies of two men from a pickup truck in the Patapsco River, but the nature and location of the debris complicated efforts to find the four workers still missing and presumed dead.

“Divers can put their hands on this faceplate, and they can’t even see their hands,” said Donald Gibbons, an instructor at the Eastern Atlantic States Carpenters Technical Centers. “So we say zero visibility. It’s a bit like locking yourself in a dark closet on a dark night and not being able to see anything. »

Divers have to cut through debris to remove it, Mr. Gibbons said, because objects on the bottom cannot move without disrupting the entire pile.

“So we use underwater burning and cutting solutions to reduce the size of these pieces, so that when we cut them, we don’t affect the entire pile,” said Gibbons, who does not is not involved in the Baltimore effort.

“The best minds in the world” are working on this clean-up operation, assured Maryland Governor Wes Moore. The US Army Corps of Engineers for the Baltimore District and the US Navy will notably mobilize significant resources.

“It’s not just about Maryland,” Mr. Moore recalled. It affects the economy of the whole country. The Port of Baltimore handles more cars and more agricultural equipment than any other port in the United States. »

The governor warned that it will take time to return to normal activities, but he said he was grateful to President Joe Biden’s administration for approving $60 million in immediate aid. Mr. Biden has also already confirmed that the federal government will pay the entire cost of rebuilding the bridge.

“We are not talking about hours, days, or even weeks,” warned Mr. Moore. We have a very long road ahead of us. »

The damage caused by the collision between the cargo ship and the bridge on Tuesday is considerable.

Federal and Maryland authorities said the collision and collapse appeared to be the result of an accident.

The victims, who were part of a construction crew repairing potholes on the bridge, were from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. At least eight people fell into the water when the ship hit the bridge column, and two of them were rescued on Tuesday.

The accident caused the bridge deck to rupture and fall into the water within seconds. The authorities barely had time to stop vehicle traffic before the collision, but they did not have the opportunity to alert the team of workers.

The freighter Dalí, managed by Synergy Marine Group, was heading to Sri Lanka. It was carrying nearly 4,700 shipping containers, 56 of which contained hazardous materials. Fourteen of them were destroyed, authorities said.

It is believed that around 80 liters of oil from a bow thruster on the ship caused a sheen into the waterway. Booms have been placed to prevent any spread of oil, and state environmental officials are sampling the water and air.

From 1960 to 2015, there were 35 major bridge collapses worldwide due to collisions with ships or barges, according to the World Association for Maritime and River Transport Infrastructure.