What we know about the Baltimore bridge collapse | DW News

The US State of Maryland has declared a state of emergency after a cargo ship crashed into a bridge in Baltimore, causing it to collapse.
Officials say several vehicles were on the bridge at the time - including one as large as a tractor-trailer. The fire department says two people have been rescued, one of whom is in critical condition. Emergency workers are trying to rescue at least seven others believed to be in the water. Authorities are calling it a mass casualty, multi-agency event and say the operation is going to extend for many days. Shipping in and out of the Baltimore port has also been suspended until further notice.
The ship that caused the collapse is a Singapore-flagged vessel managed by the Synergy Marine Group. The company says all of its crew members have been accounted for and no injuries have been reported.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge was 2.6 kilometers long with four lanes. More than 11 million vehicles used it every year, and it is a major part of the road network on the US east coast.
Chapters:
00:00 Intro and report
02:53 Helen Sampson, Cardiff University
06:03 Janelle Dumalaon, DW Correspondent
08:38 Mohammad Mehdi Kashani, Professor in Structural Mechanics
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#Baltimore #bridgecollapse #bridge

[@theHedgehogPro]

I love the last expert being asked "Why did it collapse?" Well, you see, the ship was pretty heavy, and it hit the bridge.

[@Sknerus89]

xD XDD

[@cdrlw2411]

Ship too heavy too, incredible🤯

[@sonic_genesis]

He said the bridge is old dated and there’s no barrier to protect the pillar.

[@jurgenkoks9142]

I had a very good long laugh due to this comment :D thank you! :D

[@nanwilder2853]

How about asking WHY the ship SWUNG AROUND, into position for a HEAD-ON COLLISION with the pylon?!

[@himanshusirohi2403]

Ship pilots are from Baltimore area and crew was Indian. It was the ship crew which sent SOS, when Pilots failed.

[@gbsailing9436]

How do you know this?

[@ChristoffelTensors]

Captain was Ukrainian

[@moonlightinthedarksky]

@@gbsailing9436 the president of usa has said it and even the mayor praised the ground crew for sending an advance SOS.

[@sosipin2000]

India crews celebrate HOLI when accident 😋😜😁

[@moonlightinthedarksky]

@@sosipin2000 are u m@nt@lly f9?

[@_Dibbler_]

Mechanical engineering students can look forward to a new question in exams: If a ship with 116,851 DWT hits a bridge, what moment of inertia must the pillar have to survive the collision?

[@allangibson8494]

The simple answer is they aren’t. There have been quite a few bridges brought down by ships.

[@akashparhi7004]

It's a civil engineering problem.

[@lilyli-or3ov]

Boston dynamics need to develop AI dolphins that could detect possible colliding ships and will shift around to counter push the ships away so as to prevent them hitting the main pillars.

[@moozoowizard]

The reporter failed to ask the guy saying its missing impact barriers about how big and heavy the ship was. I'd imagine impact barriers against such a large heavy ship would need to be pretty impressive.

[@TheSpiritombsableye]

The bridge itself worked as a good impact barrier.

[@gerardcrabb4556]

It was designed for 1977 shipping now size has doubled...

[@optimus7738]

Indian crew sends the SOS signal. 2 Americans pilot from Baltimore controlling the ship.

[@moozoowizard]

@@gerardcrabb4556 agreed. However it's no possible to account for everything. Eg if that ship had sped up to full speed and hit the pillar. You only have to look at it's size and the size of the bridge. My understanding is they did regain some control of the ship and that maybe also be a factor in where it came to a stop. Ie Without that control it might have just kept going straight though and out the other side.

[@gerardcrabb4556]

@@moozoowizard It might have passed through if they didn't try to stop it but power failures would have made it hard to control...

[@user-wm3sx9wj1k]

How about the shipping company pays for it... Why should federal tax dollars have pay for Thier negligence

[@emikomina]

The ship had major failures, and was built by Hyundai. No surprises here, koreans make unreliable cars and unreliable ships too!

[@gomerpyle7721]

I am sure their insurance will get a nice bill as part of this

[@almac9203]

​@@gomerpyle7721the shipping company should pay for all repairs or be banned from USA waters

[@telescopicS627]

Let no crisis go to waste....

[@GraniteInTheFace]

Singapore ship. We need to ask if they have communist affiliations

[@mycosys]

This could not have happened with tugs guiding it under the bridge. The only thing that could have stopped this 100,000Ton ship was tugs alongside. Without that, this was a matter of time. Mechanical failures happen

[@Djamonja]

Pretty much. I'm surprised they didn't build any protective barriers on each side of the bridge columns, they seem to build them on newer bridges. I'm sure it would be expensive though, so that probably explains why.

[@wooden2187]

And in spite of it being a truss bridge… I’m staggered!

[@emikomina]

The ship had major failures, and was built by Hyundai. No surprises here, koreans make unreliable cars and unreliable ships too!

[@Flight042]

@@Djamonja The bridge had protective barriers, but the sheer mass of a fully loaded cargo ship makes those protections moot. @mycosys Its a standard route without tugs. No ships in that region are using tugs to navigate that bridge. Standard practice is to invite a specialist Captain on board to navigate difficult channels like that seen in the Panama canal(which was done in this case), but all that expertise is useless when a mission critical system such as ship power/steering goes out.

[@samueljr.2026]

If you think like that, airplanes will collide!

[@lashlarue7924]

Queue the legions of conspiracy theories and self-anointed "experts" in the structural engineering of their own respective armchairs.

[@TheAmericanMonaLisa]

The conspiracy is that democrats and Joe voter are all made from tofu.. although I cannot confirm nor deny this.

[@Zakuzelo]

Take a shot every time you hear that boat fuel can't melt steel beams.

[@BernardSolomon]

“Cue”

[@filipeeeeeeeee5615]

I don’t know how they just don’t get it. Don’t they have physics and vectorial calculus in school? It’s obvious that a bridge *in equilibrium* suspended by only two pillars would collapse if you throw a ginormous force onto the pillar in this equation, because it would go out of equilibrium creating a chain of forces that could (and did) destroy the bridge.

[@assassinsrequiem]

No, it's just the same story: corporate greed causes mismanagement in safety regulations.

[@SeeLasSee]

They don’t look up the bridge info ahead of time for just 60 seconds.

[@SeeLasSee]

1977

[@Show_what_I_Love]

As per the rule, its always 2 Americans who pilot the ship in this area. Indian crew were proactive to send Mayday alert to save American lives.

[@sosipin2000]

India crews celebrate HOLI when accident 😋😜😁

[@stubborn176]

That's why your distant father was lost and found America in search of India.

[@Show_what_I_Love]

@@sosipin2000 yes, and American crew were celebrating good friday.

[@marcobartz1879]

I wonder how much that shipping insurance claim will add up to... Yikes!

[@bradfordjhart]

Oh no! The American taxpayers are going to get the bill for this one

[@debasishraychawdhuri]

A shipping insurance also has an upper limit for the claim. It's definitely not paying for the bridge.

[@konnen4518]

The limit if I’m not mistaken is the cost of the ship if it’s to be sold

[@Cyrribrae]

There will also be separate criminal and civil claims as well. Just because the insurance won't pay for it all doesn't mean the company isn't getting billed for it.

[@drew651]

@@konnen4518 Not sure how commercial vessels work, but on my sailboat I have $70,000 of coverage for the vessel, $5,000 for personal items on the vessel and $2,000,000 liability. I would assume they have a similar setup.

[@happymelon7129]

Bridge Protection designs from 50 years ago are obsolete to protect from ships of today's weight.

[@BYTES305]

Thats why they knocked this one down to make a new one its all about the money

[@sjc4]

or, infrastructure so that people don't die@@BYTES305

[@JamieWhalen-ud2np]

You're wrong. When building large structures, you designe them to last the tests of time. Especially bridges, that handle stess constantly

[@terry6665]

​@JamieWhalen-ud2np then what happened here?

[@JamieWhalen-ud2np]

@terry6665 looked like the power went off, turned back on and aimed directly towards the bridge pier. If you're losing power and control, why would you do that?

[@vipulmukund5744]

American people are making racist comments against Indians, but they are unaware that those two pilots were not Indians but Americans.😢

[@onetrickpony4179]

Who is making "racist" comments, Vipul?

[@bhardwajbrahmbhatt7332]

Lmao they will do it ppl fail to accept their on incompetence … rule of Baltimore seaways only Americans can pilot a ship their .. so no Indians were piloting the ship.. also how the hack full bridge fall is it made of Lagos so something 😂😂

[@XMysticHerox]

Doesn't have anything to do with anyone on the bridge anyways from the looks of it. Well outside of previous negligence in checking the ships systems.

[@_.F0X._]

I dont see racist comments, what are you talking about

[@Dawah_Help]

@bhardwajbrahmbhatt7332 Before yo cry > The 22 Indian sailors had nothing to do with the CHANDRAYAAN-2 crash 🌚

[@mujahidislam157]

To Hollywood, don't make a movie out of it. With Tom Hanks as the captain.

[@konnen4518]

I’ve drove past this bridge multiple times before. Sad for people in the cars

[@DontUputThatEvilOnMe]

There was actually no cars on the bridge at the time. Just some construction crew. Which is very fortunate.

[@gewurztramina]

Yes, police reacted quickly to stop the traffic on the bridge, saving many lives

[@user-ei6cx1pr8r]

Putin will blame Ukraine for this.

[@aresnir2725]

You will find way to blame Russia for this

[@jfitzpatrick6108]

​@@aresnir2725Hmmm! It seems that you got your Troll Switchboard wires all crossed-up, again! Tricky how those things work - but keep trying; some day you match catch-on. 😅

[@joliecide]

Israel will blame Gaza for this as well.

[@GlobalMediaContent]

ISIS will blame itself for this

[@GlobalMediaContent]

Ukraine will blame Russia for this

[@nestle68]

So the First report of CARS was on the bridge was wrong 🤦🏿

[@sirensynapse5603]

Did it sound its big horn? That there are no massive protective concrete islands around each bridge leg is madness.

[@Amen.ahmed1]

I thought Ship's insurance would cover the rebuilding of the bridge

[@DKP3000]

Wait…why is the government paying to build the bridge? The shipping company is liable and must pay!

[@Kelanich]

@@tEch-01 Plus restoring the major bridge in the region has the highest priority, so they can't just sit around and iron out the compensation procedure that might take months.

[@DKP3000]

@@tEch-01 the company/insurance must pay the maximum, then company goes under. government takes over the rest of company.

[@mycosys]

Because if they wait for the legal action it wil cost the economy billions. Watch the rest of the conference

[@Kelanich]

@@mycosys It's not just the bridge is down, its ruins now closed one of the major ports in the US, literal heaps of money are burning down every second as it idles.

[@DKP3000]

@@mycosys I didn’t say wait. You misunderstand. You don’t wait to rebuild your house, you temporarily pay to start, but the insurance or whoever is responsible will pay.

[@user-bn9ws1hi2j]

Is it practical to add safety measures to the bridge to include a retaining concrete wall in the design enough to sustain impact against large ships similar to this incident???

[@cpangws]

I would think near incoming port with bridges they would have Pilot Tugs to safely guide the ship into port especially if a ship loses engine power or steering?

[@user-ne3np1zq9h]

The executive in charge of the Maryland department of transportation (only appointed 3 months ago)who is in charge of the key bridge is Bruce Gartner .His previous job was administrator of the Howard County office of transportation.He was responsible for planning and development of bicycle and pedestrian facilities.

[@bobbybagga1975]

Why is the federal government paying for the bridge and not the insurance companies?

[@soreeyez]

U want to scare other ships from transitting there?

[@jamesricker3997]

Why are you repeating a talking point straight from a Russian troll farm?

[@t-rex4211]

@@jamesricker3997😂 maybe they’re not Russian troll farms and are actually America tax payers with genuine concern

[@Cyrribrae]

Pretty obvious. The insurance is going to take years to collect. They will need to investigate, make claims (which won't be enough to cover the bridge anyway), fight and win court battles against the insurance and/or the companies involved, win the inevitable appeals... All before they then START rebuilding the bridge. No, the federal government is going to pay FOR NOW and start rebuilding. No waiting. Then, if you listened to the speech, they will recover the cost afterwards and hold whoever is responsible accountable.

[@fluxcapacitor1621]

The US government shouldn't pay a dime. All costs should be paid by the company operating the ship. Send the bill to Singapore.

[@nancywidjaja2474]

Agree... singapore gov is rich anyway

[@Liboch]

Marine insurers mostly are from the UK

[@telescopicS627]

Yes, asking tax payers to foot the bill is treasonous, but why do you expect coming from Biden?

[@90taetaeya]

Crew are from India, maybe they should pay?

[@telescopicS627]

Let no crisis go to waste!

[@paulaharrisbaca4851]

In the 1800's in Great Britain there was a famous and very deadly accident where a segment of the railroad bridge which was very long, fell and all the train cars went into the water but there was no radio back then, so no one could do more than light a lantern on one end, of different colors as I recall.

[@joliecide]

Mayday, we can't turn the boat moving at about 20 mph away from the bridge, about 1,000 feet away!

[@slaiggmeron2847]

I've seen explanations that it steered towards the pillar very late, maybe because they tried to slow down (similar to a reverse gear) at the end which made the ship go in a unexpected curve right into the direction of the pillar. In general it is likely that the rudder was unusable for a large part of the time because of generator problems.

[@gbsailing9436]

Your point being?

[@gbsailing9436]

As has been commented on elsewhere, it can been seen that the ship has 2 power outages. Following the first one smoke for the funnel can be seen. IF this is indicating that the ship was put into FULL reverse (which seems probable) then on a 'single screw' ship this will have an actual physical effect - namely that the ships stern will kick out to port, regardless of speed. This will effectively steer the ship's nose to starboard and towards the pillion, as depicted by the videos. Ships captains would be trained to anticipate this. So one has to wonder just what was going on on the bridge between the pilot and the captain.@@slaiggmeron2847

[@stubborn176]

​@@slaiggmeron2847should've issued before sailing, right? Why you people just learnba little?

[@DanielPerez-ee3wp]

The ship tilted to one side because of the weight?

[@frinkleboop9963]

The questions in this episode are especially inane good grief

[@user-hy1dy2tp8z]

That's MSM for you! God forbid they would ask the tough questions; just like 7WTC!

[@iamsujan4738]

All the US people blaming Indian crew for that accident while it was Indian crew who sent the SOS 🆘.. And The Pilot was local 😢😢

[@DrAustinThomas]

I don't know of any widespread blame for the Indian crew here in the US. It certainly isn't reported as such. They seem to have followed all the emergency procedures at it was clear there was a US harbor pilot onboard. Pecause they followed Mayday procedures, they were able to stop traffic to the bridge before the collision saving some lives. It seems like it was a maintenance issue on the ship that was the ultimate cause but that may not be related to the current crew on the ship at the time.

[@Cbd_7ohm]

You clearly don't live in the US nor do you know how to read. Out of all the comments I've seen in the past few days only one in this comment section I've read so far was blaming the Indian workers.

[@Dawah_Help]

They weren't from the EVERGRANDE & did not cause the SUEZ canal crash! 🔭

[@tyler4088]

​@@Cbd_7ohmI've read alot of comments saying it was a terrorist attack/ intentional but I don't believe that I believe it was a accident

[@brianvittachi6869]

That close to the dock there must have been a harbor pilot onboard.

[@Diana_L.]

Maybe there should be restrictions on the size of ships that are allowed to traffic on inland waterways (rivers and canals),

[@matenzo]

Not sure ppl grasp how huge and heavy these cargo ships are.

[@sentient1640]

Strong ship. What's the model number and maker?

[@gt-jr]

The ship was made by hyundai in south korea

[@AWriterWandering]

It’s sheer mass at play.

[@alexksader_zp8554]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="635">10:35</a> the acnhor really did not pay attention to what the expert said TWICE to him. He asked about the age of the bridge and the construction flaw of not being able to withstand a cargo ship ramming into its pillar (comedy!) while the expert CLEARLY said that the problem was in defensive structure (dolphins) being absent due to it being constructed 50 years ago when those were just not deemed to be necessary. I

[@gbsailing9436]

Anchors are not sentient beings. They can NOT pay attention to anything that is said to it.

[@pratodas901]

Should build a tunnel here instead of raising the bridge height.

[@Cyrribrae]

You don't really need to do either. At least not at first. Either of those projects are entire overhauls of infrastructure. Years in the making. And a new tunnel could push that out to decades. They may want to start with just repairing the bridge to usefulness. If they can.

[@adityac3239]

Hazmat and other goods trucks sti can't go thru tunnels

[@harlandawson8447]

Baltimore has 2 large tunnels, but HAZMAT trucks cannot use the tunnels tunnels, they have to use this bridge

[@Kasatali13]

2 tunnels (95 and 895 interstates) are further north and I think the bridge is the option here because of the water depth those large ships require in the shipping channel.

[@Kasatali13]

Amazon just built a large warehouse right there not long ago. Where Beth steel was. Alot of Trucks

[@SpazzyMcGee1337]

Is the container ship's insurance company liable?

[@terrydao3281]

Another case clearly reminding US government to focus more on own domestic issues (like poor infrastructure) but not spending money to interfere others

[@spudnutz48]

The cargo must have been very stable as it didn't seem to shift at all upon colliding with the bridge.

[@cheriebrooks3565]

Deepest condolences to families of all victims. May all affected by this tragic accident be comforted 🙏🏻 🙏🏻 🙏🏻 ❤ ❤ ❤

[@highwayrider9165]

Ship mayday = joke Air plane mayday = emergency Road crash = routine day

[@apakansaja8505]

*Why are they building a bridge in the middle of the river...??? Go underground and stop bothering shipping lane.*

[@mattp9932]

tanker shuts his lights off and drifts in. tanker turns his lights back on and floors the engine to steer INTO the bridge. Tanker shuts off lights milliseconds before hitting bridge as its confirmed to him that he is taking out the bridge. Wake up people. think for yourself for once.

[@carstuff4u942]

Haha, nope

[@barbaraleecharles235]

Your ignorance is beyond me.

[@papa-dt1cv]

Outside the event, Can cover more? Example direct indirect impact/damage for Baltimore? Diversity, tug boat services, bridge lifespan, future risk including weather impact, contract shipment, issurance, route diversity, computer simulation investigations etc..

[@simulatednatas]

Strange, that almost nobody is saying that company to blame is Maersk.

[@vsharan2k]

A malfunction means the operators of the vessel need to be answerable with all means necessary!

[@lloydzufelt7514]

Why should the government pay for the bridge?? What about the insurance company??

[@wobblybobengland]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="522">8:42</a> sham Professor, I found out in a 5 minute search at work this afternoon that the bridge was built in 1972 before the US passed legeslation to make 'dolphins' compulsory. Dolphins apparently is a term for big pieces of masonry to stop big ships doing this sort of thing. This was made legislation after a similar accident in 1980 that happened in Florida. The reason behind the collapse of the bridge is obvious, and you do nothing other than state the obvious. I fear for my country when something like that is on tv posing as an academic Professor, embarrassing. The English day of wisdom is spent.

[@arnold5893]

You are an educated individual.

[@mycosys]

Wow, considered English lessons?

[@sirensynapse5603]

Your country votes for bidens, trumps, and the like. It's already game over, my friend. :)

[@hackedbyBLAGH]

Rest in Peace

[@user-bn9ws1hi2j]

The footage of the incident clearly shows the bridge was too weak to withstand the impact when it absorb a minimum level of pressure from a slow moving cargo ship….old design suggests that it needs more sectionalized construction so that other. portions of the bridge will not fall …only the rammed part gets damage…

[@Evolixe]

Mate that ship is at least 10 times the weight of that entire bridge. And it didnt have to fight the entire bridges weight, only that of the one pillar. Like a car vs a pedestrian, that bridge never stood a chance 🤦

[@SKF358]

Did the MayDay really allow for slowing any traffic on the bridge? Hard to believe.

[@sarcasmo57]

Any bets on how long it takes to rebuild?

[@whatfreedom7]

I don’t know anything about holding Bridges’s but I’m guessing at least 3 years.

[@barbaraleecharles235]

If you look closely, it seems the only cars and men that went into the water were the workers. You can see their yellow warning lights on, and their vehicles are NOT moving.

[@maxsmith3580]

I wonder if they deduct depreciation on the claim value. Like they did with my house and truck, lost to fire.

[@tanshirley3211]

So sad.

[@frednewman2162]

One point that many addressed prior to it coming out late in the day, is why the CG did not release the information of the the distress or mayday call? They were there with all those agencies giving interviews about it and everyone asking about it being a terrorist attach or the capabilities of the captain or harbor pilot and not a word about there having been a 'mayday call' or the fact that they were capable of shutting down some traffic, they just let everyone speculate about terrorist attaches or the capabilities of the harbor pilot or captain of the ship! Someone needs to take a look at the management of the CG and their getting the facts out to the other agencies and the public!

[@nanwilder2853]

FYI : It is not “ terrorist attaches”! It is terrorist ATTACKS”.

[@gbsailing9436]

These so called experts have NO IDEA!!! As has been commented on elsewhere, it can been seen that the ship has 2 power outages. Following the first one smoke for the funnel can be seen. IF this is indicating that the ship was put into FULL reverse (which seems probable even given the electrical power outage - diesel engines would not be affected as they don't run on electricity). On a 'single screw' ship this will have an actual physical effect - namely that the ships stern will kick out to port, regardless of the ship's speed. This will effectively steer the ship's nose to starboard and towards the pillion, as depicted by the videos and as shown on the ship's AIS course data and plot. A ship's captains would be trained to anticipate this. So one has to wonder just what was going on on the bridge between the pilot and the captain.

[@horrorfan117]

Well, there are suggestion that the initial loss of power also knocked out their rudder control. That would've left the pilot with two equally terrible choices. Either continue forward without control or attempt to arrest the ships' movement while it pitches to starboard. From the real-time tracking, it does seem the ship might've cleared the pillion had the second power outage not occurred. But indeed, more investigation needs to be done.

[@gbsailing9436]

If that was the case, as they didn't engage reverse, then the ship should have continued on in a straight direction. Engaging reverse would have sidewalked the rear of a single screw ship ship to port as I said previously. Captains would have been trained in this. There are examples of such steerage control on YT. Check them out. Single screw vs twin screw.

[@patrickwentz8413]

I have crossed that bridge many times. Really surprised they had not built a tunnel instead. Today might be a good time to revisit that idea. Lets not forget the amazing job the port authority did in rapidly closing the bridge to stop traffic when a collision became imminent.

[@patruddick]

I agree ,building an underwater Tunnel for all traffic can take a few years to build , where I live .I believe you enter and pay on leaving ,

[@sixstring007]

A bridge makes better sense for the situation as trucks carrying certain loads, such as HAZMAT, are not allowed to use the tunnels. There needs to be an above-ground thoroughfare for them. Driving across the harbor is much faster than driving up around the city. Unfortunately, that will be their only option until a new bridge is built. Expect delivery delays.

[@ryand141]

You can't transport gas under a tunnel. There is also a tunnel already there.

[@Mexxx65]

The Baltimore Shipping Authority is directly to blame here, and is fully culpability

[@jamesricker3997]

The video of the crash suggests otherwise

[@Mexxx65]

@@jamesricker3997How? What did I miss? The ships crew gave ample warning, that their vessels, lost power and was out of control. I don't think the local authorities thought the ship would bring down the whole bridge. They thought the safety measures around the bridges large pylons was sufficient, for that not to happen.

[@Cyrribrae]

​@@Mexxx65what are you talking about?? Ample warning?? They barely had enough time to stop most of traffic, let alone stop the ship. What do you think they could have done in that timeframe? Culpability goes to the company that didn't maintain the ship. If there was malfeasance, then that's another story. If there was crew negligence, that's another story. If the pilot screwed up in a way that negated everyone else's good work (pretty unbelievable), another story. But there is almost no instance where the emergency responders being forced to mitigate a disaster at essentially the last second with something they had basically (literally) no control over could be much at fault, let alone 'fully" so.

[@onetrickpony4179]

Probably mexican construction.

[@jaca688]

That’s why military ship have a way to control rotor manually

[@willemvanriet7160]

The way the ship lurched to the side makes it seem like the anchor pulled it into the pillar. Could it have cruised safely underneath without power if they didn’t drop the anchor?

[@treelee8485]

whatever they did, the accident too perfect aim at the support pillar in the whole width of the river 🤔

[@jimbobeire]

They dropped the port anchor, not the starboard anchor though.

[@renemartin5729]

It's a Cheap Charlie Meccano bridge. Many similar bridges are protected by barriers designed to prevent or reduce the impact when a vessel collides with a pier, especially those crossing busy shipping channels where large vessels like this one come and go frequently. Such installations can take a number of forms, including cable systems, pontoons, custom-designed caissons, and submerged islands. But among the most widely used are “dolphins,” circular sheet pile cells filled with material such as sand or concrete that essentially serve as bumpers.

[@patruddick]

looks like it was made out of icing sugar .

[@khairulhelmihashim2510]

victim families and state government can initiate lawsuit against the ship owner and operator.

[@user-ei6cx1pr8r]

Trust Americans they will

[@puirYorick]

How do I get a paid position as an expert stating the painfully obvious?

[@user-uy6yu6mm5r]

The generators troubled.That why the Main Engine and rudder cannot function accordingly

[@gbsailing9436]

Generators don't have feelings, they can't be troubled.

[@anntverschuuren1080]

Once Foran gets on site, the real investigation will move forward swiftly. His specialty includes boat accidents so his expertise will be invaluable to getting to the facts about the loss of power this ship experienced.

[@ryand141]

Who's that?

[@curio78]

They will have to pull the bridge out of the water to restart ship passage.

[@skychaser59]

They should have had rock islands built around the bridge stanchions for added protection.

[@brycerichert]

wow... what an expert they found

[@mikehernandez5900]

Interesting factoid about the age of the bridge. I wonder if the original design envisioned the future size of cargo ships and the possible forces that would need to be resisted.

[@GH-oi2jf]

Probably not, but protection for the main pylons could have been added at any time. The Sunshine Skyway disaster should have made every bridge authority aware of the danger. Nothing was done. This bridge had no fenders around the pylon footings and only four puny dolphins.

[@xihangyang]

i thought these ship use small tow ship to tow them to the harbor

[@slaiggmeron2847]

It was coming out of the harbor I think. I guess tow ships are used for the very last part close to the anchor point, not for the open water. 1:35 shows that it was already going in a straight line for quite some time before the bridge, I assume you don't use tow ships for that anymore.

[@elliotsilverstone8808]

Why didn’t ship issue March day call. It ain’t May.

[@nancybashista1390]

Thank you, Dr. Mohammad Mehdi Kashani. Appreciate your wisdom. Stay blessed 🙏

[@CIS101]

Does the depth of the channel prevent having effective barriers ? So if the channel is very deep that might make constructing effective barriers an engineering nightmare.

[@GH-oi2jf]

If they can build a pylon footing, they can build a fender structure to protect it, in my opinion.

[@DarkPesco]

A cargo ship slams into a bridge and a reporter asks, "Why did it collapse?" Was that really a good question? The fact he asked it means that wasn't a good reporter.

[@FreakAzoiyd]

Not at all. You have to ask the easy questions and not jump to a implicit conclusion by yourself... and let the viewers do the same (maybe with different outcomes)

[@EddyMerckx-1964-Sallanches]

But no loud ship horn was used ?? Ok.

[@raffaharley5880]

Bridge designs need a rethink now if a whole truss structure across multiple supports can come down like a deck of cards.

[@gbsailing9436]

No need to redesign the bridge, just redesign the surrounding bridge approaches building in aggressive underwater barriers to slow and stop errant ships out of control. Far easier. See my comment elsewhere.

[@raffaharley5880]

@@gbsailing9436 your approach could possibly help but its short sighted as other incidents, not just ships running into a pylon, can have the same result. The way the bridge collapsed shows a possible vulnerability in the design philosophy of this bridge, or was it bad construction?. In any case, there is no way all those sections should have collapsed like dominoes. Imagine if those sections of the bridge were full of traffic and hundreds of peoples lives were lost because bridge supports hundreds of metres away from the incident did not hold up the very sections of road they were there to support. There should be a lot of head shaking going on, but in the end it will all come down to $$.

[@mddell24]

It looked like the bow thruster had been activated to create such a strong move to starboard. Maybe in panic someone got it wrong way round.

[@mycosys]

Bowel? lol

[@mddell24]

@@mycosys Fixed, cheers

[@mycosys]

@@mddell24 FWIW the turn was the effect of the single prop going hard astern, you can see the billowing smoke. They had no steering but were trying to slow. & they were dragging the port rudder to try to prevent it.

[@MSDGroup-ez6zk]

Just like Boeing, the USA bridge quality is rubbish.....

[@jfitzpatrick6108]

​@@MSDGroup-ez6zkDo you just trash _everything_ to make yourself feel authoritative? The U.S. has a lot of bridges which are more than a century old. Even New York City has century-old bridges. The World Class Bridge Builder, Othmar Ammann, lived & worked in New City most of his life.

[@karsten27027]

Such a ship that goes off course can happen. Any bridge should be protected for such a thing. As far as can be seen on google, there are several other bridges in the area, that are similarly too poorly protected.

[@MMPowerCave]

Electrically vulnerable ship too close to those power lines during a solar storm?

[@jimbobeire]

A solar storm.... affecting a ship operating in _the middle of the night_ when there is an entire planet between the ship and the sun? and it didn't seem to affect anything else in the port, or the city of Baltimore? Do you really think that's a likely scenario?

[@cturdo]

A massive cargo ship coasting at 6kts easily takes down a bridge pilar and several spans. It seems elementary that the tugs accompany it through the bridge crossing and we build robust bridges in busy port areas. It's all about money and risk - a calculation that proved unequal to the potential results like this.

[@nukeplatine]

I wonder if the ship blew all horns as a warning... I fell sorry for the missing workers and hope they will be found very soon

[@tgmtf5963]

Can't blow without power

[@jeenhur8804]

The ship lost power minutes before impact and veered off its straight course and struck a bridge support. What is the basis for determining that it was an accident and not a terrorist attack after just a few hours?

[@khalidhashmi3833]

Testing and commissioning carried out.

[@aroomermardoo6502]

I thot these mammoth ship got back up powers

[@gbsailing9436]

Back generators yes. but not back up propellers and engines.

[@Continentalmunkey88]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="352">5:52</a> US army corp of engineers aspect, not

[@davidwilliams4498]

Find it hard to believe they built a long Interstate bridge right beside a huge world wide shipping point an did not install bridge pier safety beams beside interstate bridge beams. Wow I'm sure they wish now they would have.

[@arnoldhau1]

So if a place wants a free new bridge, they have to get a ship to crash into it?

[@gordkawulka6875]

Something I find impossible to believe is that there is no video monitoring from the bridge itself. This leads me to come to the conclusion that ther is information that is not being brought foreward. There is probably alot more to this story than is being presented...

[@jfitzpatrick6108]

How does Video Monitoring work during a complete power failure aboard ship?

[@gbsailing9436]

They would have the monitoring video of course, they just haven't released it yet.

[@user-hy1dy2tp8z]

@@jfitzpatrick6108 HE said from the Bridge itself; not the ship!

[@sirpieman300]

bro, where do you think the bridge is located? Thats right on the dam ship that lost all power!@@user-hy1dy2tp8z

[@user-nv7mc8mr2k]

Who were the crew members ?

[@aresnir2725]

Captain was Ukrainian

[@user-nv7mc8mr2k]

@@aresnir2725 Nope, all were Indians

[@vipulmukund5744]

​@@user-nv7mc8mr2kAmerican people are making racist comments against Indians, but they are unaware that those two pilots were not Indians but Americans.

[@Ashlesh....]

The pilots of the ship were local Americans & the crew was Indian. Joe Biden Thanked Indian crew becoz it saved lives of many Americans by issueing mayday warning. Shame on you instead of thanking Indians you are blaming them for no reason. Check on Google.

[@Ashlesh....]

​​@@user-nv7mc8mr2kcheck on Google The pilots of the ship were local Americans & the crew was Indian. Joe Biden Thanked Indian crew becoz it saved lives of many Americans by issueing mayday warning. Shame on you instead of thanking Indians you are blaming them for no reason.

[@doonsiedoo9doonsiedoo984]

There were no concrete barriers around the support piers. Flimsy.

[@carstuff4u942]

Actually it did, but the boat is too large

[@Suitswonderland]

Where was the ship going though? Like they lost power minutes before hitting into the bridge? Was their a special part they could get through near the bridge? I am confused how they managed too hit a bridge. (I live next too a major ship yard and river and we have raising small bridges), ankers could of been used, did they wait until last moment? Its just weird, and then pollution control from the prof, losing power is not enough they were gonna crash, how were they on a trajectory towards a crash before power was lost.

[@ryand141]

Sri Lanka.

[@maddog2771]

There was car's on the bridge. Three wasn't car's on the bridge. Which is it .

[@sixstring007]

Both. There were no cars consisting of general traffic on the bridge (at least on the span that collapsed) at the time of impact. However, vehicles belonging to the construction crew who were repairing potholes were on the bridge.

[@bsmith273]

Why we paying to rebuild the bridge that obviously an insurance claim by the shipping companies

[@dunneemofozilla5718]

Now container ships will be required to carry oars for emergency unpowered maneuvering

[@tommay7735]

No tugs??? Flimsy bridge without proper pile protection. DOT failed leadership once again.

[@MarloSoBalJr]

You must not know Maryland... 😅

[@AWriterWandering]

The bridge was built in the mid 70s. Cargo ships this large didn’t even exist back then.

[@paulaharrisbaca4851]

In the 1970's container ships were just starting. They wouldn't have allowed an oil tanker like the Exxon Valdez in or out, and these Asian owned container ships are so big San Francisco banned them from using their ports ages ago (but that might've been a longshoreman union thing.

[@louieuow]

I would love to see the insurance claim!

[@keithrobinson5752]

These ships take miles to stop or turn, if they lose power they will drift with the current with little control. They could not just stick on some form of handbrake 🤨

[@nanwilder2853]

Really? Because the ship was filmed SWINGING AROUND, mere SECONDS before crashing HEAD-ON into the pylon!!

[@sergeysergeev7564]

From the latest news. The captain of the ship was a Ukrainian.

[@GaminGiga]

name Sergey too btw

[@gfutube1]

Looks more like a causeway than a bridge.