At collapsed Baltimore bridge, focus shifts to the weighty job of removing the massive structure
Engineers in Maryland are focused on the daunting task of removing what had been the Francis Scott Key Bridge from the Patapsco River
BALTIMORE — Teams of engineers are working on the intricate and careful process of hauling away the twisted steel and shattered concrete of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland while also trying to recover the bodies of four workers still missing and presumed dead.
The bridge was sent crashing into the Patapsco River on Tuesday after a massive cargo ship crashed into one of its main supports.
“With a salvage operation this complex — and frankly with a salvation operation this unprecedented — you need to plan for every single moment,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said as one of the largest cranes on the U.S. East Coast loomed behind him.
Seven floating cranes — including the massive one capable of lifting 1,000 tons — 10 tugboats, nine barges, eight salvage vessels and five Coast Guard boats are on site in the water southeast of Baltimore.
The broken pieces of the bridge, including its steel trusses, weigh as much as 4,000 tons.
The experts need to figure out how to “break that bridge up into the right-sized pieces that we can lift,” U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath said.
All of the wreckage is blocking ships from entering or leaving the Port of Baltimore, and is making the search for the missing workers extremely difficult.
The victims were members of a crew fixing potholes on the span when it was destroyed. They were from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, officials said.
At least eight people initially went into the water when the ship struck the bridge column. Two of them were rescued.
Two bodies have been recovered from a pickup truck, but the murky water and
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