- AP Photo/Steve Helber
United States – Rescue teams on Tuesday were searching for seven people over the collapse of a major bridge in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, United States, according to authorities.
Video footage shows the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsing into the waters of the Patapsco River after a container ship flying the Singaporean flag named Dali collided with a support pillar around 05:30 local time.
Authorities said several vehicles were on the Baltimore bridge when the collapse occurred.
Baltimore City Fire Chief James Wallace told reporters that two people have been successfully rescued from the water. One was transported to a trauma center in serious condition, while the other was uninjured.
Divers face extremely cold water temperatures, around 9 degrees Celsius (48 degrees Fahrenheit) as they search for possible additional victims.
Jembatan Francis Scott Key, di kota Baltimore, AS runtuh ditabrak kapal kargo
- AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
Maryland Governor Wes Moore declared a state of emergency and said the state is working with interagency teams to promptly deploy federal resources from the Biden administration.
The White House said President Joe Biden has been briefed on the incident and will continue to receive updates.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott called the ship's collision with the bridge a "unthinkable tragedy."
Meanwhile, Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said there is no indication that the collision was intentional. However, there's still no direct explanation for the incident.
For reference, the Dali is 48 meters (157 feet) wide and 300 meters (984 feet) long. Synergy Marine Corp, the manager of Dali, issued a statement saying the ship collided with one of the bridge pillars and all crew members, including two pilots and 20 crew members are safe.
The 47-year-old, 2.5-kilometer-long bridge is a major interstate highway connector encircling the city of Baltimore, which has one of the largest ports in the United States.
It is named after Francis Scott Key, the author of "The Star-Spangled Banner," a poem later set to music and eventually becoming the national anthem of the United States.
Key was inspired to write the poem after witnessing the British bombardment of a large US military fort in Baltimore in 1814, during the War of 1812.
