What happened
The massive Singapore-flagged cargo ship Dali hit a support pillar of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge at 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday, causing the bridge to crumple. Eight construction workers filling potholes fell into the Patapsco River; two were rescued and six are presumed dead.
Who said what
The “unthinkable tragedy” of the bridge collapse “looked like something out of an action movie,” said Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott. The police officers who rushed to stop traffic onto the bridge within 90 seconds of the Dali’s “mayday” call “are heroes,” said Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D). “They saved lives last night.” President Joe Biden said all indications point to the bridge collapse being a “terrible accident,” not an “intentional act.”
The commentary
The local pilot steering the Dali out of the Port of Baltimore tried everything he could after the ship experienced “complete blackout,” meaning it lost engine and electrical power, said the executive director of the American Pilots Association, Clay Diamond. The Key Bridge wasn’t the most “heavily trafficked” route across Baltimore Harbor, but it was the city’s “blue-collar bridge,” The New York Times said. And no tunnel could match its “gently sloping arch and views” of Baltimore the “working port city.”
What next?
Biden said the federal government will “pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge,” and he will “move heaven and earth to reopen the port and rebuild the bridge as soon as humanly possible.”