Tragically, a container ship struck a portion of a bridge in the US state of Maryland early on Tuesday morning, causing several cars to crash into the water, according to media reports.
The incident happened at about 1.30 a.m. (US local time), and according to CNN, the Baltimore Fire Department said it was looking for at least seven people who were thought to be in the water. Mass fatalities are reportedly feared in this case.
In what the Fire Department called “a mass casualty multi-agency incident,” response teams are reportedly trying to save about twenty people who may have fallen into the river when the four-lane Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed, according to CNN.
Established in 1977, the 1.6-mile bridge is the outermost point of entry into Baltimore Harbour and a crucial segment of Interstate 695, also known as the Baltimore Beltway.
“The I-695 Key Bridge has all lanes closed in both directions due to an incident. On X, the Maryland Transportation Authority posted, “Traffic is being detoured.”
The ship that struck Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge was the DALI, a container ship flying the Singaporean flag, according to information gathered by a Coast Guard officer and a marine monitoring website.
According to CNN, which used data from MarineTraffic, the ship is about 48 metres (157 feet) wide and about 300 metres (984 feet) long.
