Major Bridge Disaster in Baltimore

[rmaynard 14,926]

I'll just post the link.

 

https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/us-baltimore-bridge-collapse-mass-casualty-event-03-26-2024

 

 

[Pullstart 59,846]

Lost lives, lost shipping channel, lost shipping historic marker.  So sad, in many ways.  I think there is a way to know how many maritime vessels are stuck in port now because of this.  What a logistics nightmare, along with daily travel as well.  I imagine those water temps are frigid right now, and 7 workers were on the bridge at the time of collapse unaccounted for.  

[rmaynard 14,926]

I've lived near Baltimore all my life. The bridge was opened in 1977 and I have only driven across it once, not long after it opened. For some reason, I always felt that it was an engineering  disaster waiting to happen. 

[Mike'sHorseBarn 2,697]

I saw this this morning, absolutely horrible. I wonder how the ship managed to run into that support.....I imagine there will be consequences..........

[Mickwhitt 4,187]

Our news feed is full of the accident. 

 

They say the crew contacted authorities to say they had lost control moment before it struck the bridge.

 

Hard to imagine that a ship which had just set sail should fail so quickly.

 

The bridge did look very spindly for such a long and important crossing. But as one bridge expert said the size of ship which hit it hadn't even been conceived when the bridge was built. 

 

It's such a horrible thing to happen and they are still looking for people in the water and in vehicles. 

 

Mick 

[rmaynard 14,926]

41 minutes ago, Mickwhitt said:

Our news feed is full of the accident. 

 

They say the crew contacted authorities to say they had lost control moment before it struck the bridge.

 

I always have said that if you want more up to date news, tune into the UK news. Our news did not say anything about them losing control. 

[sergeant 284]

 

I bet the next bridge they'll build bigger Support Islands near the shipping channel and Put Bridge Protection cells (circled In red in the image below) like they did with the new Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa, Florida, which was taken down when a Cargo ship hit it In 1980 and Killed 35 people. You can see that the old Sunshine Skyway Bridge next to it wasn't very well protected from ships hitting the piers when it was Built In 1971.

[Pullstart 59,846]

4 minutes ago, rmaynard said:

 

I always have said that if you want more up to date news, tune into the UK news. Our news did not say anything about them losing control. 

It takes our politics out of the equation, which is the way news should surely be.

[sergeant 284]

Just now, Pullstart said:

It takes our politics out of the equation, which is the way news should surely be.

I would not say that about News In Europe  especially the BBC  They are very Political  with our Politics

[rmaynard 14,926]

I am truly surprised that our dual span bay bridge has not been a target.

 

 

Before 9-11, we would walk across the old span every spring. There were at times up to 20,000 walkers on the bridge.

 

[sergeant 284]

Maynard Hitting That bridge would Not send a Message to the world. The world Trade center had a Lot of world Trade and world Banking was going on there. That's why it was a Target Twice By Al-Qaeda

[Mickwhitt 4,187]

Film shows the lights going out on the ship when it lost steerage way, when they came back on it was too late.

Such a huge vessel has so much momentum even at a low speed. The bridge really didn't stand much of a chance.

 

[Mickwhitt 4,187]

Oh the BBC is definitely biased, sometimes it's hard to know which side they are on though. But it's the best we can get I suppose.

 

[sergeant 284]

43 minutes ago, Mickwhitt said:

Oh the BBC is definitely biased, sometimes it's hard to know which side they are on though. But it's the best we can get I suppose.

 

I miss the news. Prior to the mid-1990s, You really never knew where a Newscaster stood Politically. They seem to come across as they were just reporting the news and not their Political spin on it, as they do now. Even in my local news, I find they are Just too Political (especially if You live near a Major city, as I do). I watch the weather, and that is about it anymore. I go out to the quad cities (Illinois-Iowa border) about 2.5 hours west of me and watch the Local news; they seem to not really show any political spin in their reporting, even if it is a re-hash of national news.

Edited March 26 by sergeant

[Horse Newbie 6,893]

I watch YouTube… then I can really hone-in what type of political spin I want to poison my brain with…

[Tractorhead 8,612]

I have heared about that today in the radio news.

 

They say as fas as known for now „ it was announced as an tragic Accident“

Ship starts fail the Steering and than the Accident was happen.

 

my thoughts be with the Persons they be hurt of lost their lives.

 

I believe there will be now some Guy‘s, they have to answer lots of uncomfortable questions...

[RJ Hamner 1,001]

9 hours ago, Pullstart said:

.  I think there is a way to know how many maritime vessels are stuck in port now because of this.  

 

 

There were none left in port.  BUT 7 were expected in the next few days.

[6wheeler 586]

Sad, sad situation all around. The Vessel apparently lost all power and maneuverability. I read a story from an Old Captain that used that port many times. He said that when those ships lose power, they cannot be controlled. You would think there should be some sort of back up emergency equipment. I am not a boater. I do not have any knowledge of how that could be done. This whole thing reminds me of when our 35W bridge went down. Not the same circumstances I know. But, the same result. Tragic. Prayers for all involved.

[rmaynard 14,926]

It take over a mile to stop a 90,000 ton vessel in open water. I am wondering when they lost power because it looks as though it was a direct aim and hit on the support column.

Edited March 27 by rmaynard

[squonk 39,003]

Watched a video with guy in the shipping business. He said when they lost power drone footage showed they dropped an anchor causing the boat to start to pivot. Then when they got power back they put it in reverse and the single prop caused it to veer more. They probably would have been better to just used the rudder and coast

[Mickwhitt 4,187]

The images in day light are shocking. The front of the bow looks like it was cut with a laser, clean as a whistle and it was the concrete support that did this.

I said in a previous post the bridge looked flimsy, that's an ignorant comment as the only images I'd seen were from a long ways off. Up close the whole thing is colossal, steel beams that now look like paper. 

The size of the Container ship is breath taking, just a huge lump of metal. 

The pilots did their best to try and deal.with the situation, but their efforts only seem to have made things worse. That's not their fault, they were doing all they could think of to try and stop the boat.  But as some have already said, with no power the sea is in complete control, and it doesn't care about you.

Prayers for the poor guys mending the blacktop who now seem lost, and hope that not too many vehicles were on the bridge when it went down, but only time will tell. 

We are only tiny creatures on a huge planet, when it bites back we should not be surprised that we aren't as clever as we think we are. 

 

 

[Pullstart 59,846]

 

[sergeant 284]

14 hours ago, Tractorhead said:

I have heared about that today in the radio news.

 

They say as fas as known for now „ it was announced as an tragic Accident“

Ship starts fail the Steering and than the Accident was happen.

 

my thoughts be with the Persons they be hurt of lost their lives.

 

I believe there will be now some Guy‘s, they have to answer lots of uncomfortable questions...

Well, at least this isn't France or Italy. The Crew of the ship would probably be facing manslaughter charges, as you never want to be a Commercial Airline Pilot and survive a crash In those counties, as they usually charge you with manslaughter and prosecute you!