The United States of America has been rocked by the collapse of a major bridge in the city of Baltimore after a cargo ship crashed into it.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, a ship hit the bridge and caused the entire structure to collapse and fall into the water, with cars and people being plunged into the Patapsco River beneath them.
The 1.6 mile (2.7km) Francis Scott Key Bridge helps serve the busiest specialized cargo port in America and rescuers are now searching for people in the river in what is a frantic rescue mission.
It is believed that there could be as many as 20 people in the water, along with “numerous vehicles, and possibly a tractor-trailer or a vehicle as large as a tractor-trailer, (that) went into the river,” Kevin Cartwright, the spokesperson for Baltimore City Fire Department, told Reuters.
“This is a mass-casualty, multi-agency event,” he said. “This operation is going to extend for many days.”
Videos have been circulating online of the incident in which the headlights of cars can be seen falling into the water as the ship starts to catch fire under the weight of the bridge.
State of emergency declared
Maryland Governor Wes Moore declared a state of emergency. He said in a statement the state was “working with an interagency team to quickly deploy federal resources from the Biden Administration.” The FBI in Baltimore said on X its personnel were “on scene”.
After arriving at Baltimore Port, Reuters report that the ship left the port again at 12:53 am ET and then collided with the bridge at 01:28 am.
It has been identified by LSEG ship tracking data as being a Singapore-flagged ship that is called the Dali.
The registered owner of the ship is Grace Ocean Pte Ltd and the manager is Synergy Marine Group, LSEG data show.
Synergy Marine Corp said the Dali collided with one of the pillars of the bridge and that all its crew members, including the two pilots, had been accounted for and there were no reports of any injuries.