Baltimore bridge collapse timeline: What happened before, during and after

hello thank you for joining us we begin with an image from the Patapsco River near Baltimore where nothing looks right the bridge that protects us from the water is in the water a cargo vessel stuck speared on the pylon it crashed into at 1:30 in the morning early Tuesday the bridge once spanned a vital shipping route to the Port of Baltimore authorities were searching for six people who had been working on the bridge now it's a recovery Mission based on the length of time that we've gone in the search the extensive search efforts that we've put into it the water temperature that at this point we do not believe that we're going to find any of these individuals still alive we are going to suspend the active search and rescue efforts two other people were rescued from the water CBS Evening News anchor Nora odonnell has more from Baltimore dramatic video captured the horrifying moment the massive cargo ship nearly 1,000 ft long crashed into a support column on the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore if the whole Bridge just fell down start start whoever everybody the whole Bridge just collapsed within seconds a large portion of the bridge collapses plunging into the Patapsco River we are still investigating what happened but we are quickly Gathering details the preliminary investigation points to an accident we haven't seen any credible evidence evidence of a terrorist attack a closer look at the video shows the ship heading south at about 1:24 a.m. when the lights go dark but quickly on again a minute later plumes of black smoke can be seen billowing from the ship's chimney once again it appears the ship loses its lights a minute after they come back on the vessel slams into the bridge never would you think that you would see physically see the Key Bridge tumble down like that it looked like something out of a an action move sources tell CBS News multiple alarms rang out on ship after several failed attempts to fix the loss of propulsion the pilot issued a Mayday call giving officials time to stop traffic on the bridge these people are heroes they saved lives last night the impact of the crash was so loud it jolted Donald heimbuck who lives nearby out of his sleep you up what did it feel like it felt just like an earthquake we've had some earthquakes here before and that's exactly what it felt like and associated with that was the Rolling Thunder which I thought was very unusual um what was the Rolling Thunder it was the sound of the bridge collapsing into the psico river well it's just incredible to see this firsthand I mean we are not far from this and of course this bridge carries some 30,000 people every day it is a major commuter route and now it is completely shut down the FBI using robotic cameras underwater to search for six construction workers who who were on the bridge they are now presumed dead by their employer two survivors were pulled from the chili water this morning 24 members of the NTSB are on the site leading the investigation they want to examine the voyage data recorder it will be critical it's a critical piece of our investigation which is why we have a record team here authorities say the Singapore flagged vessel was headed from Baltimore to Sri Lanka going 9 mph none of the crew was hurt today President Joe Biden said the federal government will quote move Heaven and Earth to reopen the port and pay for the rebuilding I told them we're going to send all the federal resources they need as we respond to this emergency and I mean all the federal resources and we're going to rebuild that Port together and evening news ancher Nora odonald joins us now from the site in Baltimore Nora what's the latest you're hearing about the search effort and investigation effort and and how hard is that to do given the weather yeah it is cold here and the water are chilly but what we heard from federal state and local authorities is that all day long they have been operating as if this is a search and rescue operation but we did hear from the construction company today that said that they believe that all six of their workers are presumed dead there were two survivors um one who fell and apparently survived in is at Baltimore Shock Trauma and then another who Governor West Moore told us in an interview was the leader of the group and that's miraculously uh was able to survive the governor meeting with some of the families of those uh who are unaccounted for missing and saying that they're a prayerful group of people and so certainly uh that's part of the big concern here even before they talk about rebuilding they're really just concerned about the victims here and you know just on a personal note um John you know I we're here outside someone's home just over the river here we went out on a boat today with someone who's lived here his entire life uh Jimmy he is in in the cement business and he said you just can't believe it I mean he he woke up in the middle of the night he took his boat out in the middle of the night he said he just he never thought something like this would happen people really are in a state of of shock about what has happened here that bridge as someone who grew up in that area that bridge is a massive part of your life if you live around there even if you don't live nearby uh it must be totally devastating to the community tell me Nora about the investigation part of it what are some of the key questions that remain unanswered yeah I mean that bridge is part of the skyline here in Baltimore as you say the investigation ongoing at this hour one of the things we heard today was that there is so much Twisted Metal and debris in the waters that that has slowed efforts uh Chris Van Cleave you know who's our transportation correspondent has been talking with officials and you know he said today it's it's like a an a US nimit style aircraft carrier plunging into a bridge I mean that's how heavy these ships are three times the weight of cargo than it was just decades ago it's very very heavy that has caused a lot of debris that's in the water that is slowing and hampering the investigation but one of the things they're going to be looking at the maintenance record of that ship I mean how does the power go out I mean you look at that video very closely that we showed in our piece tonight for the CBS Evening News you know the lights flickering on and off I mean how does that happen you know um so they're going to be looking at that were there problems with the propulsion in the past so certainly the ship's maintenance maintenance record is part of that they'll also of course look at the stability of the bridge involved and they say this could take months they're going to look for what is it essentially a a voyage they have a data recorder on on board the ship too to look at that but I have to tell you John the one thing I was struck about in just talking to officials today is that at the last minute I mean this happened so quickly that the last minute there was that Mayday call it got to the transportation officials at Maryland they stopped additional traffic from getting on that bridge had that not happened this would have been far worse John thank God it did Nora odonnell on the scene force in Baltimore thank you Nora perhaps you've had a nightmare where you cannot stop the crash you see coming and all the tools at your disposal are useless here's our CBS News senior Transportation correspondent Chris Van CLE with a report on what happened on that shipping vessel just before imp by Daybreak the force of the Collision was clear pieces of the mangled Francis Scott Key bridge and crushed cargo containers littered the deck of the dolly but the first sign of trouble here when the lights flickered and went out on board the giant ship had lost its engine its electronics and much of its ability to steer leaving it on a collision course with the bridge and little time to avert disaster a Mayday call went out as the nightmare scenario unfolded Michael kachari is a former NTSB senior Marine investigator losing power as you're approaching a bridge uh would be just about the worst case scenario loaded down with heavy containers the captain tried to quickly slow down the more than 900t long cargo ship by dropping its Port anchor dark smoke could be seen billowing from its Stacks likely the backup generator coming online but the ship never regained engine power and it struck one of the two main structural support Columns of the bridge Ben schaer is a structural engineer one the bridge was struck by a containership of that size there's not a bridge that we build you know that's any level of economy and efficiency that that that's going to survive that it's happened before in 1980 during a blinding thunderstorm a cargo ship slammed into a support column of Tampa's Sunshine Skyway Bridge a 12200 ft span collapsed 35 people were killed since then cargo ships have more than quadrupled in size in the world of infrastructure system it's a failure right I mean the the bridge is gone the port is closed people have died the NTSB is going to have to contend with a lot of debris on that ship and in the water but they want to get their hands on the voice and data recorder that should be on that ship they're also going to pour over its maintenance history including reports there may have been an inspection that turned up problems with the propulsion System earlier this year but they're also going to look at the design and maintenance of the bridge John Chris Van Cleveland Baltimore of for us thank you Chris

Channel: CBS News

Views: 1,259,882

Keywords: CBS News, Baltimore, bridge collapse

Id: DKJL2CisK5M

Length: 9min 27sec (567 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 27 2024