Mass Casualty Event’ as Baltimore Key Bridge Collapses

A ship struck Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge early Tuesday, causing a partial collapse and sending vehicles and people into the water, officials in Maryland said.

“I can confirm at 1:35 a.m., Baltimore City police were notified of a partial bridge collapse, with workers possibly in the water, at the Francis Scott Key Bridge,” the Baltimore Police Department said in a statement.

The Maryland Transportation Authority said the collapse occurred “due to ship strike.”

Multiple vehicles plunged from the bridge at the time of the collapse, the Baltimore City Fire Department said. Overnight work had been underway on the bridge and divers were searching for at least seven people in the water, the department said.

The bridge, which is part of Interstate 695, crosses the Patapsco River in Baltimore’s harbor.

“All lanes closed both directions for incident on I-695 Key Bridge,” MDTA officials said in a statement at about 2 a.m. on Tuesday. “Traffic is being detoured.”

A large tractor-trailer was on the Francis Scott Key Bridge when it collapsed, the Baltimore City Fire Department tells the BBC’s US partner, CBS News.

The department says there was lots of diesel fuel in the water around the ship that struck the bridge.

It adds that “the dive and rescue team has arrived on scene to locate the individuals” in the water – its last update said up to 20 workers were believed to have fallen into the river.

This is clearly a major incident developing, and has prompted a major response from the emergency services.

It was at about 1:30am local time that a large container ship hit this bridge and then really, the pictures tell the story – the bridge completely collapsed into the river below.

We understand the container ship is actually flagged in Singapore. Often container ships have flags from different countries – it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re from that country, but it’s from where they are overseen.

This has been declared as a mass casualty incident – that really gives us a sense of the seriousness of the situation.

Authorities don’t declare an incident to be a mass casualty event unless it is extremely serious.

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