BALTIMORE – A search-and-rescue effort in the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore turned into a recovery effort Tuesday night, just 18 hours after the span fell into the Patapsco River.
A column from the bridge pierced a giant container around 1:30 a. m. , causing the bridge to collapse.
The U. S. Coast Guard The U. S. Department of Health announced last Tuesday that a full-day search and rescue effort for six missing people had turned into a recovery effort, with the others now presumed dead.
The bodies of the victims had not yet been discovered as of Tuesday afternoon. All of the victims were construction workers who at the time of the collapse were plugging potholes in the stretch.
Several agencies, including the FBI, sent dive parties into the water to conduct the search. In the darkness, those teams were pulled out of the water as hope of locating the men alive faded.
Two other employees were rescued from the water shortly after the collapse.
Authorities said an alert message was issued through the ship shortly before the collision, allowing them to impede traffic on deck.
Nighttime conditions hampered visibility in the early hours of the search, but crews spotted vehicles in the river by sonar.
It is not known exactly how many cars fell into the water, but it is not believed that any passenger vehicles crossed the bridge at the time. The structure’s staff had cars parked nearby.
The water underneath the bridge is 50 feet deep, Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld said, and according to NOAA’s National Buoy Data Center, the water in the river reached 48 degrees overnight.
The Coast Guard is leading the project at the Key Bridge site.
“Lately we have three small boats,” the lieutenant commander said. Erin Palmer said Tuesday. ” We also have the Coast Guard Mako, an 87-foot patrol boat. We have a helicopter from Atlantic City Air Force Base. And we’re running around with a lot of federal, state and local ners on the ground as part of those search and rescue efforts. “
Two other people were pulled from the water shortly after the collapse. One of them was unharmed and another was taken to the hospital in “very serious” condition. The injured user was treated at the Shock Trauma Center R. Adams Cowley, later discharged.