Baltimore Bridge Disaster

[1972Shocker]

Baltimore's Key Bridge Collapses After Ship Collision; Up to 20 People Missing

Kevin Cartwright with the Baltimore Fire Department provided an update to CNN, saying, "We understand that there was up to 20 individuals who may be in the Patapsco River right now, as well as multiple vehicles. We have a mass casualty, multi-agency incident underway." Dive teams from the BFD and other agencies are in the water searching for those people.

The bridge collapsed on top of the ship. Cartrwright said that the US Coast Guard is "in the process of establishing contact with the vessel" to determine how many injured people are on that ship and more about what type of cargo was on the ship and any mechanical issues that might have occurred before the collision.

[Kung Wu]

Aaagh, that's hard to watch knowing there are people on that bridge and on that ship.

[SubGod22]

HOLY ****

[ShockBand]

Echoes of the 1980 Sunshine Skyway bridge collision and collapse in Tampa Bay.

[RoyalShock]

Echoes of the 1980 Sunshine Skyway bridge collision and collapse in Tampa Bay.

And they put large concrete structures in place to protect the bridge pylons when they rebuilt it. Seems like that would be a wise thing to do to any major bridge, especially in shipping and cruising ports.

[SubGod22]

I'm sure the replacement bridge will have more safety and a better structural planning when it's next completed around the year 2030.

[Kung Wu]

The knee jerk reaction is to overbuild the bridge when it's rebuilt but you have to consider that there are tons and tons of bridges in the country and very few of these types of accidents historically. Do we really want massive tax increases for something so statistically unlikely? Has a single bridge location ever suffered from two collapses?

By my count about 120 people have died from major bridge collapses since 1980. It is awful when it happens, but it's also awful when folks get struck by lightning.

If you have to double the cost of rebuilding the bridge in order to add safety pylons/piers/whatever, I'd rather take that money and spend it to stop the humanitarian and economic crisis along the southern border that affects U.S. citizens every single day.

I do think some inexpensive technology to detect a wayward ship/impending boat collision/mayday signal and then automatically shutting down the roads would be an affordable step in the right direction. But doubling the cost of every bridge construction project with massive and expensive concrete solutions to prevent something likely to never occur just seems like bad fiscal decision making.

I wonder how many kids and people have died from drugs coming across our border since 1980?

[SubGod22]

Shouldn't a standard design for a bridge like this generally prevent a failure in one area from bringing the entire thing down?

What's more costly? Replacing an entire bridge or a section?

[SubGod22]

Apparently the ship had put out a mayday that they'd lost propulsion and could end up hitting the bridge and that allowed authorities to shut down traffic.

There was an 8 man construction crew filling pot holes. Of those, 2 have been rescued and 1 of them is in critical condition. The other declined medical treatment. Six are still missing.

Authorities believe that there is nobody trapped in any submerged vehicles.

[Kung Wu]

Yeah I heard that on the radio. Sounds like the pilots were sharp and saved a lot of lives.

[1972Shocker]

Yeah I heard that on the radio. Sounds like the pilots were sharp and saved a lot of lives.

Yes, the were able to get a May-Day call out in time so they could stop the traffic in the bridge. Thank goodness for that.

It would like they ship lost power, then it came back on, then went off again. So perhaps lost the ability to steer the boat.

[ShockBand]

Yes, the were able to get a May-Day call out in time so they could stop the traffic in the bridge. Thank goodness for that.

It would like they ship lost power, then it came back on, then went off again. So perhaps lost the ability to steer the boat.

They were using Baltimore harbor pilots, so I'm sure they knew once they lost control they also knew how and where the water flow was going to move them. Kudos to the harbor pilots for recognizing that in time to call a mayday and get warnings out.

[Kung Wu]

Yes, the were able to get a May-Day call out in time so they could stop the traffic in the bridge. Thank goodness for that.

It would like they ship lost power, then it came back on, then went off again. So perhaps lost the ability to steer the boat.

Yeah, you can see when the lights come back on the ship starts turning (probably way too late at that point) but then the power goes off again. Heard anything about if the crew on the ship have all survived? A sudden stop like that surrounded with all that cargo has to have been deadly as heck.

[ShockBand]

Yeah, you can see when the lights come back on the ship starts turning (probably way too late at that point) but then the power goes off again. Heard anything about if the crew on the ship have all survived? A sudden stop like that surrounded with all that cargo has to have been deadly as heck.

I think I read that all aboard the ship were OK. I think they were still assessing if any environmental hazards were occurring from spills from any containers or the ship itself.

[1972Shocker]

Yeah, you can see when the lights come back on the ship starts turning (probably way too late at that point) but then the power goes off again. Heard anything about if the crew on the ship have all survived? A sudden stop like that surrounded with all that cargo has to have been deadly as heck.

Most recent info I have seen was as follows:

• Maryland Secretary of Transportation Paul Wiedefeld stated that six individuals involved in the construction work are unaccounted for. As noted earlier, two were rescued, with one refusing treatment and the other taken to the hospital.
• According to Gov. Moore, the ship placed a Mayday call in time to prevent some traffic from entering the bridge.
• Whether there were any additional vehicles/people on the bridge at the time of the collapse remains unclear.
• All crew members, including two pilots onboard, were accounted for and there were no injuries on the ship," and that the owners say they and the vessel's managers are cooperating with authorities.
• Over the next 8 to 12 hours, Wallace said, officials will be able to board the ship and assess the damage to the ship and the ability to move it, and speak to the crew members about what happened in the moments before the crash. The ship's crew members are still on the ship. Officials say there is no evidence of fuel leaking from the ship at this time.