Baltimore’s Key Bridge collapses after ship strike, sending vehicles and other americans into water

We now have that video that we've been telling you about of the actual collapse the moment that the ship hit the major support causing the Francis Scott Key bridge to collapse there it is right there that is absolutely stunning and incredible and as you mentioned uh fire chief uh uh spokesperson for the Baltimore City Fire Department Kevin.

Cartrite mentioned there were several vehicles on the bridge at the time including one the size of a tractor trailer truck a rescue and search and rescue effort now underway for at least seven people in the as a result of that collapse multiple agencies are responding right this very moment to the scene uh local and federal uh agencies.

As well uh this of course is a major shipping channel so this affects not just people who use that bridge also the ships that will be leaving the Port of Baltimore uh Baltimore of course is a major port on the East Coast this uh uh Bridge of course opened in 1977 spans the Patapsco River vital artery of course for the Port of Baltimore it's a.

Hub of shipping for the entire east coast and of course name for the writer of the star spango banner it's just surreal to see the entirety of this bridge come down like that you just don't think you'll see something like that but you're seeing it here right and of course as you would imagine there were number of people up and about.

Around this morning about the time this happened we have some sound from at least one person who was a witness uh to what occurred this morning ship had crashed into the Key Bridge and I I I couldn't believe my ears well they sent the video with it and I saw it for my own eyes and it's unbelievable unbelievable this is going to be.

Catastrophic for many reasons number one the Harbor's blocked number two we're not going to get any more new car deliveries at this time when Amazon is just on the other side of the river and you can forget your same day next day delivery packages the Beltway is going to be a parking lot the tunnels are going to be over jammed.

And that's not even talking about the death of the the people that were working on the bridge uh maybe driving across the bridge we don't know it's it's like 4 in the morning uh I heard it happened at 1:30 we had the windows open in my bedroom didn't hear anything didn't hear I don't know what happened but the story that I heard and I please.

Me this is not I don't know if this is true is that somehow the ship lost power and just crashed into the pilings and that's all it took cuz you know a bridge is a very fragile structure it can actually is like a house of cards you hit it in the perfect spot and it's gone and of course that was I witness now a lot of what he said of course we.

Understand the uh uh the importance of the bridge we have no confirmation on some of the information that he was providing in terms of what is going to happen next not only that we don't have confirmation on what happened with the ship and what caused it to hit the pilings there and causing the bridge to topple into the water but the sentiment.

Of what he is saying is absolutely true for so many people who live in that area who use this uh this bridge on a daily basis the people who work in the area uh as well as the importance of this bridge to shipping up and down the East Coast yeah widespread overarching ramifications that we probably haven't even thought of that's how significant.

This is and we're now taking a live look of that breaking news as we stay on top of this for you are we going to our live reporters going to am kada I believe at this point Amy hey Vick CA yeah just going off what you guys said just so devastating uh to see those images and that video showing the moments that bridge collaps and the.

Cargo ship collide with it I did uh speak with another man uh his name is George he actually arrived on scene here in tears because he was just so shocked and devastated as you mentioned millions of people travel through this there a very well-traveled Bridge here a very a he he actually described it uh I'll take it from him he said it's kind of the.

Gateway into Baltimore you see underwater recovery team from Baltimore City police right now coming in a massive response here we've seen many many First Responders make their way through here again this is the closest we can get uh towards the Key Bridge right now we're at Fort Armstead Road and Fort small Road this is the the.

Baltimore city and Rond County borderline they've uh blocked off this area so we're still about a mile south of the keybridge uh to to even get a visual of it so we can't see the bridge right now from our Vantage Point here but we can see the uh road closures and the massive response out here and just uh Spectators people who live nearby.

Coming on coming here uh because you know this is uh as you said a historic Key Bridge I was doing some research this Bridge opened to the public back in the late 70s it's nearly 50 years old this man I was speaking to uh George he said he actually watched uh this bridge be built uh back in the 70s and he travels through it every day he said he.

Tak this road during the time where uh the bridge classs around 1:30 in the morning every single day and he said you know something saved his life that he wasn't on the bridge at that moment uh he again he came uh on scene in tears just so uh shocked to hear the news when he learned uh we've heard from people on X on social media posting that they did.

Hear a loud boom here uh I spoke with another man from Riviera Beach he lives nearby he said that he heard a boom I've heard uh on Twitter again reports on Twitter that uh they've even felt some of their homes shaking uh from the collapse again we are still working to learn more but I will uh we are expecting to hear from multiple.

Officials again this is a massive uh area of span uh so Anala County Executive Baltimore County Executive Baltimore city mayor Brandon Scott they are all expected to be here uh on scene to provide an update for us uh at last check we were told that there are search and rescue efforts underway you saw that Recovery Unit uh make their way out.

There uh at least seven people people uh right now is what we've heard and uh we also heard that there was a possible tractor trailer on the bridge at the time of a collapse but right now people are advised to avoid the southeast Corridor of 695 again we'll continue to monitor the situation for you guys and bring you the very latest both on air.

And online on wjz.com for now porting live I'm Amy kada for WJZ okay Amy thank you very much we uh the video as we said is just absolutely compelling when you see it uh and we had that video for you now the moment that the ship actually hit that piling causing the bridge to collapse I don't know if you noticed almost.

Simultaneously when it hit the bridge the lights on the ship went out uh and good thing to we need to set the scene of what's actually happening right now rescue efforts are underway in the water we under there understand there may be as as many as seven people possibly more in the water right now this is an incredibly difficult rescue operation.

For Baltimore fire department as well as the other uh agencies that are involved um because it's dark the water is cold you mentioned this yeah and uh the fact that uh uh no matter amount of training that they have right now they have don't know exactly where to look in this situation and of course the water is moving as well so the people who are in.

The water are probably moving right along with the tide as it is occurring right this very moment uh Baltimore is certainly devastated right now by this entire situation um and of course emergency responders we are of course keeping them in our thoughts and our prayers and making sure that they're able to perform their jobs and there.

Will not be any further Devastation and we're going to take another live look of uh of the area around this bridge yeah this is just another vantage point of that collapse you can see the vessel there as well um almost that that part of the bridge sort of hanging above the surface there as well right and you see in the background you see those are the.

Cranes that actually lift containers off the ship and put containers onto the ships there at the Port of Baltimore uh you can just see by the number of them this gives you an an idea of the enormity of the port as well as imagine how important it is uh to the shipping channel uh as well as the movement of Commerce and goods and services uh.

Through uh Baltimore and now let's go to Meg mmir for your first alert forecast hey

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