Almost seven weeks after the collapse of a large highway bridge in the US city of Baltimore, experts blasted away the remaining debris in a controlled manner. At the end of March, the container ship “Dali” rammed a support pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing the more than 2.5 kilometer long, four-lane highway bridge to collapse. The cleanup work has been going on for a long time. However, part of the huge bridge structure crashed onto the ship during the accident, making its removal impossible. This part of the bridge was now blown up with explosive charges to expose the ship underneath.
The damaged “Dali” is still at the scene of the accident, but should be moved out of the way so that shipping traffic can return to normal. The investigation into the cause of the accident is still ongoing. The 21-member crew of the “Dali” from India and Sri Lanka is therefore still on board the ship.
Six men were killed in the accident. The victims were construction workers of Latin American origin who were carrying out repairs on the bridge at the time of the accident. Over the past few weeks, recovery teams had gradually found the bodies of the missing people.
The ship’s crew had made an emergency call that day before the collision with the bridge pillar, which probably saved lives – because officers on land then stopped traffic and prevented more cars from getting onto the bridge.
