The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent “routine engine maintenance” in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday, as divers recovered the bodies of two of six workers who plunged into the water when it collapsed. The others were presumed dead, and officials said search efforts had been exhausted.
Investigators began collecting evidence from the vessel a day after it struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The bodies of the two men were located in the morning inside a red pickup submerged in about 25 feet (7.6 meters) of water near the bridge’s middle span, Col. Roland L. Butler Jr., superintendent of Maryland State Police, announced at an evening news conference.
It bothers me that everyone’s focusing on the aftermath of the disaster, but no one’s talking about the immigrant (yes, confirmed) road workers who were never notified when authorities blocked traffic.
My understanding was that the authorities at least realized they needed to contact them, but there was only about 2 minutes between the distress call and the impact, so I’m not sure they could have escaped even if they were notified.
I keep seeing reports that there were other vehicles on the bridge, but nothing about the occupants. I don’t know if they mean other work vehicles though.
ETA: It looks like they might not gave had direct radio contact with the work crew, and one of the police officers was going to drice to them, but the bridge collapsed before they could: story
People can haul ass when their lives are in danger.
Unless they were in harnesses or something, they might have had a chance to at least make it towards the nearest shore.
I find it hard to believe that their company had no way of reaching them while they were on a job.
The company certainly would have had a way to contact them, but it seems the port authorities didn’t. They were also working ‘in the middle’ of the bridge, so could have been a mile or more from safety. Given the timing of the distress call, even if they’d been notified instantly I don’t think they had much of a chance unfortunately.
So maybe you’ve heard something I haven’t, according to this timeline, there was only 2-3 minutes between when the ship issued a mayday and the bridge collapsed: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/francis-scott-key-bridge-collapse-timeline-911-call-dali-cargo-ship-mayday-maps-construction-worker-recovery/
It sounded like there was 1 police officer already stationed on either end of the bridge, so thats the only reason they were even able to close the bridge before the collapse.
In the time it took them to do that, I can’t see how there would have been time to warn them physically (it’s like a 2 mile bridge). From the article, it sounded like there was confusion about if a crew was even on the bridge. I also don’t know how often / what mechanism police can use to directly contact crews, if there even is one.
I mean, it’s been covered, but yeah, not much is being made of the implications, but not much has been made of the implications of immigrant children working in plenty of US meat factories, either. So I guess I’m not really all that shocked that it’s not being heavily discussed. It’s usually news that is forgotten quickly. I wish it wasn’t, it’s bullshit, but US citizens don’t seem to actually care.
Im wondering, did the workers not have radios that they could have been called on? If not thats pretty fucked up. Idk how much time there was for someone to drive to them to notify them.
Even if they did, I don’t think the police on either end would have been on the same system, or known what channel they were on.
Im thinking more like harbor communication radio but i guess they are not part of the harbor crew and just part of some random private roadwork company.
Its a valid point though there should be ways for the bridge work crew to be radioed by first responders and other safety personnel. The cops still probably couldn’t do it from their handsets but id wager they could radio a base station with the power and range of frequencies and modes could get the base station to put out the warning.
Or, y’know, sirens on the bridge itself that can be activated in an emergency, preferably in a pattern unique to the bridge (not tornado sirens)?
Honestly. This is such a rare occurrence there will likely never be such a warning system. The better protocol would be to install massive fenders or something like that to protect the bridge piers. This is a lesson that was clearly learned after the Sunshine Skyway collapse. The US needs to seriously accelerate the retrofitting of every bridge that is exposed to this hazard.