A big boat smashed a section of a bridge in the US state of Maryland, forcing several cars to tumble into the water below.
A video on X, formerly known as Twitter, shows that at around 1.30 am (local time), a sizable vessel smashed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, catching fire, and eventually sinking.
At around three in the morning (local time), Kevin Cartwright, director of communications for the Baltimore Fire Department, informed the Associated Press that emergency personnel were looking for at least seven persons who were thought to be in the water.
At around 1.30 a.m. (local time), he added, agencies received 911 calls stating that a vessel leaving Baltimore had struck a column on the bridge, causing it to collapse. There were several cars on the bridge at the moment, including a tractor-trailer-sized one.
“Our focus right now is trying to rescue and recover these people,” Cartwright said.
He said it was too early to know how many people were affected but called the collapse a “developing mass casualty event.”
Cartwright said it appeared there are “some cargo or retainers hanging from the bridge,” creating unsafe and unstable conditions, and that emergency responders are operating cautiously as a result. “This is a dire emergency,” he said.
🚨🇺🇸BREAKING: BALTIMORE BRIDGE COLLAPSE – POSSIBLE MASS CASUALTY EVENT
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 26, 2024
A large container ship struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, causing significant parts of it to collapse.
Emergency services are searching for multiple cars and people who may have fallen into… pic.twitter.com/WujjcEOMc7
