Baltimore bridge collapse after massive cargo ship collision

this was the moment that a 32,000 ton container ship slammed into a Steel Bridge in Baltimore toppling the structure in a matter of seconds we advised the entire Bridge the entire Key Bridge has fallen into the harbor as the sun rose the scale of the destruction of the Francis Scott Key bridge came into full view the 300 met long ship with its nose rammed into the steel workor of the bridge a bridge that stood for nearly 50 years is but in the early hours of Tuesday Morning Came Crashing Down in an instant after the Singapore registered vessel struck one of its main support columns at approximately 1:30 a.m. to hear the words that the Key Bridge has collapsed it's shocking um and heartbreaking a state of emergency has been declared in Baltimore on America's East Coast as divers helicopters and support ships search for survivors authorities said at least eight construction workers were on the bridge mending potholes at the time one is in hospital in a serious condition one is uninjured but six others are still unaccounted for the governor said the container ship was traveling at a very rapid speed of about 8 knots as captured by this web camera and that it lost power causing its lights to go out moments before it hit the bridge the crew on board issued a Mayday call that officials said allowed them to quickly halt additional traffic coming onto the bridge though it's not clear whether there were any Vehicles actually on the bridge at the moment of collapse did you just say that it issued a Mayday in enough time that you were able to stop all traffic from entering both sides we're thankful that between the MayDay and the collapse that uh that we had officials who were able to to begin to stop the flow of traffic but there were some on the bridge there have been reports that have been sonar that have detected vehicles at the bottom of the water there could still be people trapped inside or potentially have died in vehicles is that correct well the investigation is still going on uh to find out exactly exactly how many people in what was situation but the thing that we do know many of the vehicles were stopped before they got onto the bridge which uh which which uh saved lives in a in a in a very very heroic way in the nearby town of dondor locals were still in shock having been woken up by crashing sounds in the middle of the night it made my house shake my friend she thought that there maybe a pre crashed into the water or something like that so it was that loud yeah the only thing we can do is just hope for the two survivors and pray for the rest I I don't understand how this bridge came down in a matter of just two seconds and you think to yourself well you know how many times have have I been on the bridge how many times have my family members friends traveled on this bridge there there's really no words very very very scary stuff when my husband got up he said press the Key Bridge is gone yeah we're both iron workers you know our Union Hall built that bridge and so so of such historic significance it it's it's devastating it's very sad and so much tonnage of Steel on infrastructure a magnificent infrastructure to go down like like a toothpicks and not to mention the the lives you know everybody's praying for those poor people it's not clear when or how they will begin to untangle the wreckage of this morning's devastating accident in the meantime the active search and rescue mission continues but the hope for survivors in these chilly Waters dims with every passing hour well what's really struck me is just how emotional people are here particularly down on the water's edge one man uh told me that the bridge was like an old friend he said someone that he looked forward to seeing every morning as he drank his cup of coffee nobody here can believe how the bridge crumpled as it did in just a matter of seconds of course beyond the emotion uh there is the trade angle Baltimore is one of America's biggest ports fing billions of dollars worth of goods every day but as long as that container ship there you can see behind me remains stuck in the river nothing can get in or out uh in the last hour or Joe Biden has described this as a terrible accident he said that all federal dollars will be made available to replace the bridge but nobody I can tell you wants to say uh has it a guess how long that will take one thing though is for sure had this incident happened uh during rush hour rather than the early hours of this morning we would be looking at an all together different story Shor Kennedy thank you very much well in a moment we'll look at the impact on International Trad now one of America's major ports is blocked but how could such a bridge collapse in the first place and so quickly we can speak now to structural engineer Dr Mark Richards um was there something about the design of the bridge that made the impact so catastrophic um I think I think in these sort of situations it's it's very easy to uh search for uh answers for these sort of catastrophes which is based on uh on design and I think it is right in fact that we now as we respond to these this kind of event is to scrutinize all things which could have been at fault but I think that if we look at the engineering here if I may and of course I'm removing myself here from the catastrophe itself um which is very distressing um but if we look at the engineering then there's many safeguards in place uh for the design of these sorts of structures to consider uh possible events um I think the key here is um whether this particular event would have been within those cases which are considered to be uh possible or not um was striking wasn't it Mark was was the way that the whole the bridge that Central structure seemed to come down and so quickly and is that because it was all effectively one piece yeah that this well this sort of this sort of bridge is is designed as a uh as a latis uh trust structure it also relies on the fact that it's a continuous structure which spans over um a number of supports and in fact in this case there's four supports one of those supports was catastrophically removed and the ability of the bridge then to to to continue to perform is is very much compromised um I think we have to look at the event which caused it uh um and and I think that maybe the the lessons are is to is to understand what we can do with the sorts of navigation channels to uh to make sure these sort of events uh uh don't take place rather than to try and design buildings or Bridges to to withstand any event that's right CU it because it was in this major shipping Lane right and I understand that a lot of bridges in shipping lanes have given extra protections uh to stop Ships coming into contact with them at all in the first place you surprised that there was an impact well as you say these sorts of structures with this level of of of contribution to the overall infrastructure are usually protected in the uh in the water course as well um I've only seen video just as the rest of us have um but it's normal that um obstacles are put in the way of bridges such that they act as a as a first as a first hit so to speak so that they don't actually reach the bridges themselves so and of course it's it's easy to speculate that maybe those things weren't in place I don't know um but I think it's also the management of the uh of the navigation Channel as well which uh I'm sure will be under scrutiny as well here Mark Richard thank you so much for that from an engineering perspective so uh what impact will this have on trade Marco foron is director general of The Institute of export and uh International Trade it's a it's a busy Port isn't it Baltimore Marco what impact will it have well it's the ninth busiest port uh in the us it is the number one port for automotive uh and vehicles you know over 750,000 uh uh cars uh and vehicles are handled through the port each year and at a time when we've got constraints in the Panama Canal and the ongoing crisis uh in the Red Sea this is going to have a significant and dramatic impact uh on trade in the US but also on US exports and particularly relevant for the UK and the EU is the fact that over half a million tons of LNG liquefied natural gas is exported from Baltimore um uh each year each month uh and you know the US is the UK's largest supplier of LNG so there will be Ripple effects then that we will feel here in the UK potentially because of this one port in the US being shut down temporarily yes and and the the implications of this will will Ripple out you know there were ships that were due to be uh birthing in Baltimore which now won't be able to we've got ships that are still stuck in uh Baltimore and then you've got the onshore uh infrastructure and supply chain that will now have to shift to try and cope with that disruption so so the impact of this is going to go uh for for many weeks or months depending on how quickly we can get Baltimore back and operational but it has to be born in mind that this is uh a a serious situation and we are still looking at a search uh and rescue and our thoughts are with those who've been directly impacted absolutely um but I mean you say it's what the main Us Port for importing cars and we're all familiar with supply chain issues these days I mean will there come a cost in certain products and materials there will be because there'll be disruption and you'll have the the supply chain will have to adjust both for components that were coming out of the US and cars coming out of the US but also those major UK and European brands that would du to be uh sending their cars uh into the US and you know it's Fiat uh Nissan uh Jaguar Land Rover Audi Volkswagen all have been impacted because they would normally be exporting into Baltimore Marco Fon thank you very much for speaking with us Kathy back now to you in London

Channel: Channel 4 News

Views: 1,655,581

Keywords: Baltimore, baltimore bridge, baltimore bridge crash, baltimore bridge collision, baltimore ship crash, baltimore crash, bridge crash, bridge ship cargo crash, baltimore bridge ship crash, maryland, united states, us, usa, ship crash, shipwreck, francis scott key bridge, baltimore bridge collapse, bridge collapse, baltimore cargo ship, baltimore port

Id: uDi4dP2rcuw

Length: 10min 53sec (653 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 26 2024