Removal of the ruins of the Baltimore bridge is underway; Search Suspended

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Authorities have started clearing the debris Francis Scott Key Bridge The search for the remaining four missing workers, who were presumed dead after a bridge collapsed into the water, ended Thursday in Baltimore.

Eight people plunged into the frigid waters of the Patapsco River after a Singapore cargo ship collided with a bridge early Tuesday, causing a 1.6-mile span to collapse. Two people were rescued; One refused treatment and the other was hospitalized in critical condition.

Col. Roland L. Butler Jr. said authorities recovered the bodies of Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Baltimore, and Dorlian Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Dundalk, Md., from a submerged red pickup truck near the bridge Wednesday morning. of the Maryland State Police.

Butler said officials were focusing their attention on the rescue operation. Authorities halted the search for the remains of other victims because of dangerous conditions for divers, he said.

“We have ended all search efforts in the area around the wreckage,” he said.

Butler said he believed the vehicles with other victims were “encased in the superstructure and concrete that we tragically saw come down.”

National Transportation Safety Board investigators also provided more details about the timeline of the plane just before it crashed during a news briefing Wednesday evening.

Marcel Muise, the board investigator in charge of the investigation, said the agency had recovered six hours of audio from the ship’s data recorder.

Muise said several alarms were heard from the ship’s recorder at 1:24 a.m., shortly before the ship lost power. The ship’s pilot asked for help from nearby tugboats at 1:26 am. One minute later, the pilot ordered the cargo ship to drop its anchor and issued an “additional steering command.” The accident happened around 1:30 am

NTSB Chairman Jennifer Homendy said during the briefing that the plane had 23 people on board when it hit the bridge – 21 crew members and two pilots.

Homendy said the ship was carrying 764 tons of hazardous materials, including flammable and corrosive, in 56 containers. Some containers were seen in the water and others were “substantially broken on the ship itself”, he said.

“Obviously, it’s very devastating, not only to see what’s happening with the cargo containers, but also to see what the bridge spans were – three bridge spans. [are] “Too far gone,” he said. “It’s absolute devastation.”