OAN’s Abril Elfi
6:38 PM – Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Six workers have been presumed dead, and the U.S. Coast Guard suspended the search-and-rescue operation after a Baltimore bridge collapsed.
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According to the Maryland State Police, the incident is now a recovery operation.
“We do not believe that we are going to find any of these individuals still alive,” Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath said.
The missing workers were deemed dead, according to Brawner Builders Executive Vice President Jeffrey Pritzker, on Tuesday afternoon, considering the depth of the water and the amount of time that had passed since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed.
“This was so completely unforeseen,” Pritzker said. “We don’t know what else to say. We take such great pride in safety, and we have cones, signs, lights, barriers, and flaggers. But we never foresaw that the bridge would collapse.”
A container ship rammed into a major bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday morning, causing it to snap and plunge into the river. Multiple vehicles fell into the water as rescuers began looking for survivors in a search and rescue mission.
The cargo ship smashed into one of the bridge’s supports, causing the structure to snap like a twig. It fell into the water within a few seconds, a shocking display that was captured on video and posted all over social media. The ship then caught fire, and thick, black smoke began to come out of the ship.
“Never would you think that you would see, physically, the Key Bridge tumble down like that. It looked like something out of an action movie,” said Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott (D-Md.), calling it “an unthinkable tragedy.”
One person rescued from the water was in good condition and refused treatment. The other sustained serious injuries and was being treated in a trauma center, Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace said in a news conference at the scene.
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