In the dead of night on Tuesday, a container ship collided with a four-lane bridge in the American port of Baltimore, causing it to collapse and sending vehicles and people falling into the river below.
After large sections of the 1.6-mile (2.57-kilometer) Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed into the water, rescuers extracted two survivors, one of whom was in “very serious condition,” and were looking for more in the Patapsco River.
At least seven cars sank into the water, according to Baltimore officials, though they were unable to pinpoint the precise number.
Kevin Cartwright, the spokesperson for Baltimore City Fire Department, earlier told Reuters that as many as 20 people could be in the river along with “numerous vehicles, and possibly a tractor-trailer or a vehicle as large as a tractor-trailer (that) went into the river.”
“This is a mass-casualty, multi-agency event,” he said. “This operation is going to extend for many days.”
Tuesday’s disaster may be the worst U.S. bridge collapse since 2007 when the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing 13.
