Seconds away from death: Here the last cars cross

VG has taken a closer look at the minutes before the catastrophic collision in the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore in the USA.

It all starts 43 minutes before the collision. What went wrong?

00.45

The container ship “Dali” is in the port of Baltimore to load. Close to 15,000 people work in the port. The final destination is Colombo in Sri Lanka.

“Dali” starts its journey at 00:45 according to Marine Traffic. After a while it sets course for the Francis Scott Key Bridge. If ships are to enter or leave the harbour, they must sail under the bridge.

The ship has two pilots on board to ensure safe passage out of the city.

But soon everything goes wrong.

01.24

The Marine Traffic website shows that “Dali” is changing course. A surveillance video from the scene shows the lights on the ship turning on and off.

Seconds later, thick, black smoke billows from the ship.

The crew of the ship reportedly reported that they had problems with the power, according to Governor Wes Moore.

When the ship began to slide forward, out of control, the crew reportedly dropped the anchor in the hope that it would stop.

This caused the ship to come further out of the ship’s berth and steer towards the bridge.

A preliminary report shows that the crew notified that they had lost control of the ship.

– A collision with the bridge is possible, reports ABC from the report.

01.27

Officials in Baltimore receive mayday signals from the 300 meter long container ship “Dali”. It is on a collision course with the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

The radio correspondence shows how the authorities stopped traffic and worked to clear the bridge.

– I need you on the south side, one of you on the north side, keep all the traffic on the Key Bridge, it is said.

– There is a ship approaching that has just lost control.

A number of cars were stopped just before the crash in Baltimore. It may have saved several lives.

But there are still eight construction workers on the bridge. They work night shifts to plug potholes on the bridge.

01.28

85 seconds after the mayday signals, the fatal thing happens. “Dali” has crashed into one of the support pillars.

Five seconds after the crash, the bridge begins to fall bit by bit into the cold water.

21 seconds later, the entire bridge has collapsed.

– The entire bridge fell down. Send, send anyone…everyone. The whole bridge collapsed, is reported over the radio from a clearly upset person.

– Do we know if the traffic was stopped? ask a person something later.

– I can’t get to the other side. The bridge is gone, replies another.

Governor Wes Moore says that the ship had a speed of eight knots – just under 15 kilometers per hour.

The time after

More than a day after the bridge collapse, four workers are still missing. At least two people must have been rescued from the icy water.

The rescue team will now search for the presumed deceased.

– Based on how long it has been since the bridge collapsed and the temperatures in the water, we don’t think we will find any of the missing alive, said the Coast Guard’s Shannon Gilreath, according to CNN.

On Wednesday evening, the authorities confirm that two dead people have been retrieved from the water.

According to Vessel Finder, this is the second collision the ship has been involved in. The first time was at the port of Antwerp in Belgium in 2016.

On Wednesday, the National Traffic Safety Council in the United States said that they have retrieved the black box from the ship. They announced that more information would be forthcoming on Wednesday.

Two Mexicans missing

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico said on Wednesday that two of their compatriots are missing.

Miguel Luna from El Salvador is one of the six missing. The father of six has lived in Maryland for the past 19 years. He left for work on Monday afternoon local time, but never returned home.

Two workers from Guatemala are also missing.

The latest missing person is from Honduras.

Two people who died were retrieved from the water on Wednesday evening. The identity is currently not known to the public.