(Image via cnn.com)
Staff Writer: Gwen Pichette
Email: gpichette@umassd.edu
Tragedy struck on March 26th when a 213-million pound and 984-foot-long shipping container plowed into Francis Key Scott Baltimore Bridge, causing it to collapse.
It killed six of the eight construction workers who had been working on the bridge at the time of its collapse. Four of the victims remain missing but are presumed dead.
Baltimore governor Wes Moore took to a press conference to discuss the work ahead. He made a grim statement about the cleanup timelines: “This work will not take days. This work will not just take weeks. We have a very long road ahead of us,” said Moore.
A tedious feat certainly lies ahead, with 4,000 tons of debris needing to be cleared from the water.
Not only will it be a lot of work, but the expenses are also expected to be staggering.
The Biden administration has already approved a whopping $60 million in federal aid following the tragedy – which does not even cover the reconstruction of the actual bridge itself.
It will only cover removing debris scattered in the Patapsco River and helping direct traffic when the Baltimore channels are reopened.
How did this happen?
Just before Tuesday, at 1:30 am, the cargo ship suddenly lost power and could not steer the boat’s direction. While the ship captain could quickly communicate with neighboring police to shut down traffic lanes before careening into the bridge, there was, unfortunately, no time for the construction workers to evacuate safely.
The tragedy unfolded only over a few seconds.
Maryland State Police Secretary Roland L. Butler provided some gruesome details on the conditions in the water, saying through sonar scans, they discovered “a horrific scene beneath the waves” with firm belief that “the vehicles are encased in the superstructure and concrete” that came down, along with the missing victims trapped inside.
Yet the frantic search for the victims was stopped in its tracks after only a day upon divers encountering poor visibility conditions in the water, making further rescues impossible:
“The water is so dark and the debris is so dense that in most instances, [the] divers cannot see any more than a foot or two in front of them.”
Currently, the search remains temporarily paused until the debris can be cleared.
To make matters even worse, they also deal with hazardous waste leaked from the breached shipping container that could be potentially deadly to divers.
Experts are scrambling to find a way to clean up “56 containers onboard containing 764 tons of hazardous materials, including corrosives, flammables and items like lithium-ion batteries.”
To call this a disaster would be an understatement.
However, this is not the first time the bridge has been struck.
Forty years ago, another cargo ship lost power and crashed into the very same bridge. But that time, miraculously, the bridge remained standing. No casualties or injuries were reported.
The question remains — what was different this time?
The answer lies in the unequal ratio between modern cargo ships and older bridges is the answer.
While these bridges have remained the same, over time, the modern cargo ships have only evolved to be larger and heavier. These bridges were not designed to withstand the possibility of a hit from modern shipping containers in mind.
Rick Geddes, professor and director of Cornell’s program in Infrastructure Policy, shared his belief that this tragedy is “absolutely a wakeup call” for engineers to reevaluate these infrastructures as “the people who were building the Francis Scott Key Bridge never really contemplated ships of this size.”
Others point fingers at the shipping container’s company, the Synergy Marine Group.
The company behind the wayward ship has been under fire for previous conflicts with their other ships — and deadly ones.
The company has been involved in at least three fatal incidents. These have occurred across international boards: a 2018 incident in Australia, a 2019 fatality in Singapore, and most recently, a 2023 death in the Philippines.
Additionally, the actual ship itself, which was involved in the Francis Key Scott Bridge Collapse, Dali, was involved in a similar crash back in 2016 in Antwerp, Belgium. It reportedly crashed into the pier when attempting to leave the port, mangling the front of the ship.
While no one was injured this time, these crashes are quickly becoming a pattern for Synergy Marine Company and are raising some concerns.
When prompted about a possible correlation between the danger of these shipping containers, a spokesperson for Synergy Marine Group was quick to dismiss any speculation, stating that “it would be inappropriate to discuss any previous incidents at this time.”
The mayor of Baltimore agrees that the primary focus should be offering humanity and compassion for those affected by the disaster. He affirms that the focus should be solely on recovery efforts because the community has an “obligation to bring a sense of closure to these families.”
The families continue to mourn the unexpected loss of their loved ones, several of whom were hardworking immigrants and fathers.
The first confirmed victim was Alejandro Hernandez Fuertes, who lived in Baltimore, age 35, and was native to Veracruz, Mexico.
The second confirmed victim was 26-year-old Dorlian Ronial Castilla Cabrera, who was from Guatemala. According to his cousin, he had worked there for three years and was passionate about his job.
Both were found trapped inside a pickup truck that was pulled from the freezing water of the Patapsco River.
The names of the other missing victims include Carlos Hernández, Jose Mynor Lopez, Miguel Luna, and Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval.
The road to recovering the remaining victims and clearing the debris looks to be a long one as these harrowing efforts continue to be underway.