Bodies found as Baltimore bridge collapse moves from recovery to salvage

Investigators have begun collecting evidence from the cargo ship that ploughed into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge and caused its collapse, while in the waters below, divers searched through twisted metal for six construction workers who plunged into the harbour, recovering two bodies so far.

The bodies of the two men, ages 35 and 26, were located by divers on Wednesday inside a red pickup submerged in about 25 feet of water near the bridge's middle span, Colonel Roland L. Butler Jr., superintendent of Maryland State Police, announced at an evening news conference.

The victims were from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, Butler said.

The investigation picked up speed as the Baltimore region reeling from the sudden loss of a major transportation link that's part of the highway loop around the city.

The disaster also closed the port, which is vital to the city's shipping industry.

Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board boarded the ship and planned to recover information from its electronics and paperwork, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said.

The agency is also reviewing the voyage data recorder recovered by the Coast Guard and building a timeline of what led to the crash, which federal and state officials have said appeared to be an accident.

The ship's crew issued a mayday call early Tuesday, saying they had lost power and the vessel's steering system just minutes before striking one of the bridge’s columns.

At least eight people went into the water. Two were rescued, but the other six — part of a construction crew that was filling potholes on the bridge — were missing and presumed dead.

The debris complicated the search, according to a Homeland Security memo described to The Associated Press by a law enforcement official.

Maryland Governor Wes Moore said the divers faced dangerous conditions.

"They are down there in darkness where they can literally see about a foot in front of them. They are trying to navigate mangled metal, and they’re also in a place it is now presumed that people have lost their lives," he said Wednesday.

'Rebuilding won't be easy or cheap'

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said it is "too soon to be certain" how long the reconstruction will take, stressing the "rebuilding will not be quick or easy or cheap. But we will get it done."

He pointed to the bridge's original five-year construction as indicative of the enormity of the task that federal, state and local officials now face, but said, "That does not necessarily mean it will take five years to replace."

"That tells you what went into that original structure going up. Again, we need to get a sense of the conditions of the parts that look okay to the naked eye, but we just don't know yet, especially in terms of their foundational infrastructure," Buttigieg told reporters at the White House.

He said it is too soon to provide an estimate about the cost of rebuilding but said, "Any private party that is found responsible and liable will be held accountable."

"Our emphasis, and the president's goal, is to make sure that that process is not something we have to wait for in order to support Maryland with the funds that they need," he said.

"Anybody who was responsible will need to be accountable."

The ship had passed two overseas inspections in 2023, the maritime authority for Singapore said on Wednesday, adding that a fault monitor gauge was fixed in June.

The Port of Baltimore is the ninth-busiest major US port in terms of both foreign cargo handled and foreign cargo value, and is directly responsible for more than 15,000 jobs, supporting almost 140,000 more.

From 1960 to 2015, there were 35 major bridge collapses worldwide due to ship or barge collisions, according to the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure.