The authorities pronounce the missing persons dead
The tragedy of Baltimore’s longest bridge is sadly coming to an end. Authorities have pronounced dead the six people who were missing after the structure of the bridge collapsed over the Patapsco River following the impact of a boat on one of the pillars. After more than twenty-four hours of searching, the six workers of the Brawner Builders company have not been located. All of them were carrying out maintenance tasks on the bridge’s asphalt when it collapsed.
The US Coast Guard suspends rescue operations
The United States Coast Guard announced early Wednesday morning that it is suspending rescue operations for two reasons: the time that has passed since the disaster and the water temperature, which is very low.
The U.S. federal government will take over the repair of the bridge
After an intense day to find out what had happened, the White House has announced that the United States federal government will fully undertake the repair of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The president himself, Joe Biden, explained it in a press conference.
Arrangements for contacting the countries of missing workers
For now, one of the administration’s most important tasks is to contact the different countries of the workers who have died. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala has reported that two of the people missing after the accident on the Patapsco River are two Guatemalan citizens aged 26 and 35, who were part of the group of workers who were repairing the asphalt on the bridge at the time of the accident.
Reasons for the bridge collapse
First of all, it should be borne in mind that the authorities pointed to the fact that it was an accident from Wednesday midday and have ruled out at first that it was any terrorist-motivated attack. A preliminary report from the Infrastructure Security and Cybersecurity Agency, collected by ABC News, gave the first indicators of the crash. The ship reportedly lost propulsion as it left the port of Baltimore, and the crew reportedly warned Maryland officials of the risk of a possible collision after losing control of the ship.