Cargo Ship Issued Mayday Call Before Hitting Maryland Bridge

The 95,000-ton container ship reportedly lost power and propulsion before accidentally veering into a pillar, triggering the collapse of Maryland’s Francis Scott Keys bridge. Dramatic video of the disaster shows the ship losing power for 30 seconds as it drifts toward the bridge. When power is restored it was too late to prevent the disaster. Maryland Governor Wes Moore says a mayday call from the container ship just before the impact alerted cops to halt traffic heading across the doomed bridge.

[laurasutcliffe]

Those poor construction workers; working, making a living, filling potholes on a bridge at 1:30am…and BAM. 😞
My heart goes out to all involved in this accident.

[PiggyBonkers]

Stopping 100, 000 tons when it’s going 8 knots takes time

[FDR-wwxz]

Hope everyone from the bridge accident is found and recovered

[ryant]

Looking at another article on the timeline, it looks like the first call was to the Coast Guard roughly a minute after crews determined they couldn't get the ship's powered restored. They hit the bridge roughly a minute later. The first signs of trouble wasn't even apparent until 4 minutes before the collision. Looks like they lost power at the worst timing possible.

[kathleenhillock]

Unspeakable tragedy. My heart breaks for the victims' families. Rescue workers have to be so very careful in such a very risky environment.

[matstarcher]

A reporter interviewed a reporter.. brilliant

[nicholasgarrick]

I cannot imagine the sheer teror the people on the bridge felt when they knew it was going down.

[sebastianalvaradocolon]

2 notes

1. The ship lost power Twice, the first time for a full minute before the Disaster

2. The Ship was involved in 2 separate incidents prior to this.

[almac]

The insurance company be like, you hit what? 🤬

[Jackson-bug]

There was like 8 construction workers and they only found 2 humans alive

[timmartinez]

That last lady just repeated everything we just heard like..seconds after we just heard it

[AlwaysAboutTay]

I pray to God they find the crew, and I’m praying for the families of the lost 🙏🏾😞💔👼🏽

[vigneshwarp]

Doesn't seem like a good design to make the entire bridge collapse if one pillar is hit.

[MountainMan.]

Nothing is going to stop a 95, 000 ton cargo ship's momentum in that situation. Nothing.

[MatthewPointe]

I was shocked when I learned this happened. It’s disturbing watching that video and seeing how close the truck was from the accident, but how the construction workers weren’t as lucky. Praying for everyone 🙏

[RedHulk_]

This is such an unfortunate accident and sad. My thoughts and prayers to families and victims involved. It's heartbreaking

[HalloweenStuff-fl]

So many memories I made with my family near or on this bridge 😢😢😢

[williamcap]

Anyone else find it weird that one reporter was interviewing another ! This country is something else !

[oceanexploration]

I will add that the wind and weather play a part. I have had several times with full power loss on large vessels. It is scary. I have had this in the North Sea twice, off the US east coast twice, and once in a fjord. You have no control. I have been monitoring the weather in this area due to our current operations in the area and the wind has been 20-30 knots from the north, right on the ship's beam. This will accelerate the dilemma into a full-blown emergency with no time to get the generators fired up. Terrible timing and location. Sad for all involved.

[pagman]

that should've been a horrifying moment for those poor workers when the bridge collapsed, it's my nightmare being on a bridge (even an small one like a footbridge) while it collapsing.