By Micheal Chukwuebuka, Reporting
A large number of people and vehicles were thrown into a river after a major bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, collapsed Tuesday morning.
Stonix News learnt that the bridge was reportedly hit by a container ship.
A spokesperson for Baltimore Police Department said that it was responding to the incident at the Francis Scott Key Bridge, an enormous steel structure which carries the Interstate 695 over the Patapsco River southeast of the Baltimore metropolitan area.
“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,” Detective Niki Fennoy said in a statement.
Stonix News reliably gathered from NBC News that the U.S. Coast Guard received a report at 1:27 a.m. ET that a motor vessel made impact with the bridge and confirmed it was a 948-foot vessel named DALI, a container ship sailing under a Singaporean flag.
“USCG has deployed three response boats, and pollution responders are en route,” said a spokesman, Petty Officer First Class Matthew West.
The Maryland Transport Authority confirmed that the I-695 was shut because of the Key Bridge collapsing due to a ship strike.
In a post on X, Johnny Olszewski, Jr., Baltimore County Executive, said that he was aware of the incident and in touch with the fire service chief, the mayor of Baltimore and other local officials.
“Please pray for those impacted,” he said.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott also said emergency personnel are on scene, and efforts to rescue victims trapped are underway.
Built in 1977 and referred to locally as the Key Bridge, it was later named after the author of the American national anthem.
The bridge is more than 8,500 feet, or 1.2 miles, long in total. Its main section spans 1,200 feet and was one of the longest continuous truss bridges in the world upon its completion, according to the National Steel Bridge Alliance.
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