By SERKAN GURBUZ and JEFFREY COLLINS (Associated Press)
BALTIMORE (AP) — Teams of engineers are working on Saturday on the intricate process of cutting and lifting the first section of twisted steel from the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland.
The bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River on Tuesday after a massive cargo ship crashed into one of its main supports.
Sparks were seen flying from a section of bent and crumpled steel on Saturday afternoon. The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed that work has started to remove a section of the toppled structure.
Crews are carefully measuring and cutting the steel from the broken bridge before attaching straps so it can be lifted onto a barge and floated away, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath said on Saturday.
Seven floating cranes — including a massive one capable of lifting 1,000 tons — 10 tugboats, nine barges, eight salvage vessels and five Coast Guard boats are on site in the water southeast of Baltimore.
Each movement affects what happens next and ultimately how long it will take to remove all the debris and reopen the ship channel and the blocked Port of Baltimore, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said.
“I cannot stress enough how important today and the first movement of this bridge and of the wreckage is. This is going to be a remarkably complicated process,” Moore said.
Unfazed by the chilly morning weather, longtime Baltimore resident Randy Lichtenberg and others took cellphones photos or just quietly looked at the broken pieces of the bridge, which including its steel trusses, weigh as much as 4,000 tons.
“I wouldn’t want to be in that water. It’s got to be cold. It’s a tough job,” said Lichtenberg from a spot on the river called Sparrows Point.
The shock of waking up Tuesday morning to video of what he called an iconic part of the Baltimore skyline falling into the water has given way to sadness.
“It never hits you that quickly. It’s just unbelievable,” Lichtenberg said.
One of the first goals for crews on the water is to get a smaller auxiliary ship channel open so tugboats and other small barges can move freely. Crews also want to stabilize the site so divers can continue a search for four missing workers who are presumed dead.
Two workers were rescued from the water in the hours following the bridge collapse early Tuesday, and the bodies of two more were recovered from a pickup truck that fell and was submerged in the river. They had been filling potholes on the bridge and while police were able to stop vehicle traffic after the ship called in a mayday they could not get to the construction crew who were from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
The crew of the cargo ship Dali, which is managed by Synergy Marine Group, remains on board with the debris from the bridge around it. They are safe and are being interviewed. They are keeping the ship running as they will be needed to get it out of the channel once more debris has been removed. The vessel is owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and was chartered by Danish shipping giant Maersk.
The crash and collapse seemed to be an accident that happened after the ship lost power. Investigators at the federal and state levels are still trying to find out why.
To ease worries about potential pollution from the crash, Adam Ortiz, the Environmental Protection Agency’s mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator, stated that there were no signs in the water of active releases from the ship or materials hazardous to human health.
Authorities are also working to understand how to manage the economic impact of a closed port and the cutting off of a major highway connection. The bridge, finished in 1977, carried Interstate 695 around southeast Baltimore.
Transportation officials in Maryland are preparing to reconstruct the bridge and have promised to consider new designs or building materials in the hopes of shortening a project that could last for years.
President Joe Biden’s administration has given the green light for $60 million in immediate assistance and pledged that the federal government will cover the entire cost of rebuilding.
Vessel traffic at the Port of Baltimore is still halted, but the Maryland Port Administration mentioned that trucks were still being processed at marine terminals.
The closure of a road that handled 30,000 vehicles daily and the disruption of the port will impact not only thousands of dockworkers and commuters, but also U.S. consumers, who are likely to experience the effects of shipping delays. The port manages more cars and farm equipment than any other facility in the U.S.
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