- The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed early Tuesday morning.
- BI watched a livestream showing the huge ship crashing into a support beam.
- Ship tracking maps as of 2:50 a.m. show the coast guard vessel moving toward the Singapore-flagged cargo ship Dali.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed Tuesday morning after being hit by what appeared to be a large cargo ship.
a video of the incident It was posted on X (formerly Twitter) early Tuesday morning. Video showed the large vessel colliding with one of the bridge's support beams. Smoke could be seen rising from the ship before the bridge began to collapse.
“Severe Baltimore Traffic Alert: Avoid the Southeast Corridor of I-695. The I-695 Key Bridge collapses due to vessel strike,” the Maryland Department of Transportation said in a statement. ×post Tuesday morning.
“At 1:35 a.m., the Baltimore Police Department was alerted to a section of the Francis Scott Key Bridge that had collapsed and workers may be in the water,” a representative for the Baltimore Police Department told ABC News. There was,” he said.
BI also watched a YouTube livestream of the bridge, which showed a large ship colliding with the bridge at around 1:28 a.m. local time.
Livestream footage from around 3 a.m. local time showed the bridge structure partially submerged in the harbour, with several sections broken.
BI also viewed vessel tracking maps for the area on vessel monitoring site VesselFinder.com. At 2:50 a.m. local time, the Singapore-flagged container ship Dali was spotted stationary under the bridge.
On VesselFinder.com's map, several vessels marked as Coast Guard search and rescue vessels were seen moving toward the ship, and as of 3:03 a.m. local time, one was staying next to.
Emergency services teams, including divers and at least two helicopters, responded to the scene an hour and a half after the bridge collapse, according to Baltimore County police scanners.
It is unclear whether vehicles were traveling along the bridge during the collapse. Representatives for the Maryland Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. said: ×post Officials said they are “closely monitoring the ongoing situation at Key Bridge.”
“Our prayers are with all those affected,” Olszewski wrote.
According to MDTA, the Francis Scott Key Bridge opened in March 1977 as the final link on the Baltimore Beltway. It cost $60.3 million to build and is 17.9 miles long, according to MDTA.
