Engineers began carefully removing the first chunks of twisted steel from the collapsed section of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge late Saturday with the help of several large cranes.
A huge cargo ship crashed into one of the bridge’s main supports on the nearly 50-year-old Patapsco River in Maryland on Tuesday, killing six construction workers and cutting off shipping traffic to the Port of Baltimore. It was done.
Sparks could be seen coming from the shattered steel beams on Saturday as workers tried to cut away sections of the bridge. Coast Guard officials said the straps will be attached to the vessel before it is loaded onto a barge and taken away.
It’s unclear how long it will take to completely remove the structure from the water and reopen the economically important shipping lane.
“I cannot overstate how important the initial movement of this bridge and debris is today. This is going to be a very complex process,” said Maryland Governor Wes Moore. he said on Saturday.
A huge number of teams have been sent to remove the collapsed bridge. There are seven floating cranes in the waters southeast of Baltimore, including a giant crane that can lift 1,000 tons, and 10 tugboats, nine barges, eight salvage vessels and five Coast Guard boats are on the scene. .
Crews will first clear the channel for small auxiliary vessels, allowing tugs and barges to move freely.
Officials also said they wanted to stabilize the scene so they could continue searching for the four missing workers, who are presumed dead by divers.
Construction workers were filling a hole in the bridge when the Singapore-based Dali tanker lost power and crashed into one of the bridge’s supports around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Two workers were rescued from the water within hours of the bridge collapse. Two more bodies were recovered from a pickup truck that fell into the river.
The crew of the cargo ship Dali, managed by Synergy Marine Group, remains on board, along with debris from the surrounding bridge. No one was injured in the accident and the person is being questioned by authorities.
They are continuing to move the ship so it can exit the strait as more debris is removed.
with post wire
