Six construction workers presumed dead in US bridge collapse

At least six people from a construction crew are missing and presumed dead after a cargo ship collided with the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore, United States.

The ship which was heading for Colombo, Sri Lanka, had collided with one of the pillars supporting the bridge early Tuesday morning, barely an hour after it set sail from Baltimore.

According to authorities, eight people were on the bridge at the time of the collision, and six remain unaccounted for.

They were part of a construction crew filling potholes on the bridge.

During the operation, two people were rescued from the river — one was taken to hospital and was later discharged, while the other was not injured.

Shannon Gilreath, US coast guard, expressed doubt about the survival of the six workers and announced the suspension of the search.

“I’d like to announce tonight that based on the length of time that we’ve gone in this search, the extensive search efforts we’ve put into it, the water temperature, that at this point we do not believe that we’re going to find any of these individuals still alive,” Gilreath said.

“We are going to suspend the active search and rescue efforts. Coast Guard’s not going away, none of our partners are going away, but we’re just going to transition to a different phase.”

WHY DID THE SHIP LOSE CONTROL?

Clay Diamond, executive director and general counsel of the American Pilots Association, told CNN that the ship lost power just before the crash.

“Just minutes before the bridge, there was a total blackout on the ship, meaning that the ship lost engine power and electrical power, it was a complete blackout,” Diamond said.

He said the pilot quickly gave a string of orders, calling for a hard rudder to port — as far left as possible — and for the anchor to be dropped.

Diamond added that the pilot was the one who contacted the pilot dispatch office to shut down traffic to the bridge.

“Those were all the appropriate steps but it happened so quickly and with so little lead time… neither one of those maneuvers were enough,” he added.

Multiple agencies, including the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are investigating the crash, but they say there have been no indications, so far, that the accident was intentional.