Bridge Collapse Leaves Baltimore in Crisis

 

Rescue teams have abandoned hopes of finding more survivors after a catastrophic bridge collapse in Baltimore that is believed to have killed six workers when a container ship ploughed into the structure. The search for survivors has been officially called off, and dive teams are expected to return at dawn on Wednesday to recover the bodies of the six workers who were knocked into the Patapsco River when the Singapore-flagged Dali slammed into the bridge early Tuesday morning. The six missing workers hailed from Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador.

The disaster has forced the indefinite closure of the entire Port of Baltimore complex, one of the nation’s busiest shipping hubs handling over 750,000 vehicles and massive amounts of container freight annually. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg warned the shutdown would have a “major and protracted impact to supply chains,” even though alternative East Coast ports have spare freight capacity.

Losing the bridge, a vital link across the Baltimore Harbor carrying over 30,000 vehicles daily, has triggered a traffic nightmare for the Baltimore region by cutting off the main route between New York and Washington DC. With only two other heavily congested spans remaining open across the harbor, the prospect of nightmarish commutes looms for months or even years until the collapsed section can be rebuilt.