Six construction workers that went missing after the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed Tuesday are presumed dead, the Associated Press reported. The U.S. Coast Guard suspended search-and-rescue operations until Wednesday morning.
On Tuesday evening, Roland L. Butler Jr., superintendent for Maryland State Police, said that the search and rescue mission was transitioning to one of search and recovery. Jeffrey Pritzker, executive vice president of Brawner Builders, told AP that the construction crew was working in the middle of the bridge’s span when a ship crashed into the bridge, triggering its collapse.
“We take such great pride in safety, and we have cones and signs and lights and barriers and flaggers,” he said. “But we never foresaw that the bridge would collapse.”
A chilling video from the event captured the full 1.6-mile stretch descending into the Patapsco River after being struck by a 948-foot-long container ship named Dali. The bodies of the missing employees have not yet been recovered, but were presumed to have died given the water’s depth and the amount of time that has passed since the crash, Pritzker said.
“This is an unthinkable tragedy,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said at a press conference on Tuesday morning. “We have to first and foremost pray for all of those who are impacted, those families, pray for our first responders and thank them.” Rescue crews used sound detection tools to determine that an unspecified number of vehicles were submerged in the river.
“This is a tragedy that you could never imagine,” Scott added. “Never would you think that you would see — physically see — the Key Bridge tumble down like that. It looked like something out of an action movie.”
Maryland State Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld previously said that contract workers were completing concrete deck repair on the bridge at the time of the collapse. Facilities are being organized for family members who believe their loved ones might have been present on the structure. Two individuals have been rescued so far, according to AP. However, Kevin Cartwright, director of communications for the Baltimore Fire Department, has described the incident as a “developing mass casualty event.” The temperature of the water was reported to be around 47 degrees Fahrenheit just before daybreak Tuesday morning.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore declared a state of emergency as the city awaits the arrival of federal resources to assist. FBI Baltimore personnel have already been deployed to the scene in collaboration with local, state, and federal authorities. Police Chief Richard Worley stated in a news conference that “there is absolutely no indication that there’s any terrorism, that this was done on purpose.”
In the video of the collapse and collision, black smoke can be seen flowing from the Dali cargo ship. The ship was reportedly en route to Colombo, Sri Lanka, at around 1:24 a.m. EST when its lights flickered on and off at least twice prior to striking the structure. According to the New York Times, there were 22 crew members on board the vessel and no injuries have been reported.
“We are horrified by what has happened in Baltimore, and our thoughts are with all of those affected,” the Danish shipping company Maersk shared in a statement. “We can confirm that the container vessel ‘DALI’, operated by charter vessel company Synergy Group, is time chartered by Maersk and is carrying Maersk customers’ cargo.”
This article was updated on March 26 at 8:07 p.m. E.T. to include a statement from a Brawner Builders representative of the six employees presumed dead.