Baltimore Bridge Collapse

[skyscraper101]

Incredible scenes in Baltimore, Maryland. At around 01:30am local time (05:30 GMT) - a container ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key bridge causing a total collapse. Vehicles and people are reportedly in the water

Rescue ongoing as cars and people fall into water after ship strike causes Baltimore bridge to collapse

Six people are still unaccounted for after the cargo ship Dali hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland, causing it to collapse into the Patapsco River. The incident has been described by officials as a "developing mass casualty event".

news.sky.com

 

[cupid_stunt]

Wow, that's some insurance claim.

I hope there's not too many that can't be rescued, it must be absolutely terrifying to suddenly find your vehicle dropping into the water like that.

 

[dessiato]

That’s awful! I can’t imagine the terror experienced by the people in the cars. I hope they’re all safe, but, sadly, I doubt they will be.

 

[Dogsauce]

That’s fucked up. Doesn’t look like any cars crossing the bridge at the moment of collapse, but some construction vehicles present.

A lot of steel in that structure, it’s going to take a while to clear up let alone build a replacement.

 

[Dogsauce]

It’s the bridge in the foreground of this Google Earth picture, looks to be on a major trunk road/ring road, so is going to fuck up traffic quite considerably, as well as access to a major port.

 

[Plumdaff]

Bloody hell. You hope because of the time very few were affected,although I then think of the sudden cold and dark for those who were.

 

[planetgeli]

Video of the collapse.

Moment bridge collapses in Baltimore after cargo ship collision – video

Mayor says rescue efforts are under way after large vessel crashed into Francis Scott Key Bridge, sending vehicles into water

www.theguardian.com

Sorry I see that's in the OP. (I don't click twitter links much)

 

[Mumbles274]

Holy fuck. Terrifying. 7 people in the water according to beeb

 

[cupid_stunt]

It’s the bridge in the foreground of this Google Earth picture, looks to be on a major trunk road/ring road, so is going to fuck up traffic quite considerably, as well as access to a major port.

Apparently it carries four lanes of the Route 695 highway.

Holy fuck. Terrifying. 7 people in the water according to beeb

It'll be a miracle if it's that few.

 

[Silas Loom]

It makes sense for the bridge to have been closed after the collision, the collapse to happen some time later, and the people who were on the bridge to be emergency responders who - hopefully - have some training on what to do if you fall into water. Still really grim.

Wish it had been Kerch.

 

[Mumbles274]

Beeb reporting 20 people now

 

[Elpenor]

Fuck, that’s terrible news.

 

[Ax^]

fuck me that bridge has been ups since the 1970's

 

[Ax^]

has Russia blamed Ukraine yet

 

[two sheds]

Was recently reading something about suspension bridges balancing tension and compression forces:

from the video that's clearly also true of truss bridges

Truss bridges​

The truss bridge has been around for literally centuries and is a load-bearing structure which incorporates a truss in a highly efficient yet very simple design. You will notice an array of different variations of the simple truss bridge but they all incorporate triangular sections. The role of these triangular elements is important because they effectively absorb tension and compression to create a stressed structure able to accommodate dynamic loads. This mixture of tension and compression ensures the structure of the bridge is maintained and the decking area remains uncompromised even in relatively strong winds.

Types of Bridges. The 7 Main Types - EngineeringClicks

There are 7 main types of bridges: Arch Bridge, Beam Bridge, Cable-stayed Bridge, Cantilever Bridge, Suspension Bridge, Truss Bridge, Tied Arch Bridge. The way in which the vertical/horizontal stresses are managed dictates the structure of different bridges.

www.engineeringclicks.com

which gives photo of Baltimore bridge as example of truss bridges

 

[Dogsauce]

has Russia blamed Ukraine yet

I’ve already seen Twitter claims of terrorism . Ship is registered in Singapore and apparently ‘they’re a bit lax about that sort of thing’ according to the hard-of-thinking.

One thing people have observed is a large plume of smoke from the ship then lights go out, before restarting. Only ships belching out smoke like that doesn’t seem that abnormal to me, but could be a sign of engine failure (with back-up kicking in, explaining lights coming back on). It was under the control of tugs reportedly.

 

[TopCat]

Poor people who went in the water.

 

[TopCat]

It makes sense for the bridge to have been closed after the collision, the collapse to happen some time later, and the people who were on the bridge to be emergency responders who - hopefully - have some training on what to do if you fall into water. Still really grim.

Wish it had been Kerch.

Really?

 

[marty21]

Heard about this earlier, a real WTF moment - apart from the tragic loss of life, it sure fucks up the area - they're going to have to go ferry-tastic for a good while.

 

[Silas Loom]

Really?

Is that directed at the first or second para?

 

[cupid_stunt]

Is that directed at the first or second para?

I'll take a bet on the second, what odds are you offering?

 

[MickiQ]

Hopefully with it happening in the wee small hours of a weekday, the number of people on the bridge was small rather than if it had happened during rush hour. Of course it being dark will make them much harder to find.
This is one of those things that is going to be tied up in court for years though

 

[Dogsauce]

One hope is that there is a lot of the bridge structure poking out of the water, so anyone who has gone in the water might have had a chance of swimming to some of this structure and climbing out of the water. You can see highway maintenance vehicles on the bridge before the collapse, but they’re stationary so perhaps less likely anyone is inside. Though the descent itself surrounded by other falling objects is quite likely to cause death and injury in itself, then there’s the risk of hypothermia etc.

 

[skyscraper101]

It makes sense for the bridge to have been closed after the collision, the collapse to happen some time later, and the people who were on the bridge to be emergency responders who - hopefully - have some training on what to do if you fall into water. Still really grim.

That's not what happened. The collision/collapse were pretty much at the same time.

 

[Plumdaff]

The terror of being on that ship losing power trying to steer it out of the way.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

A fair bit of traffic on the bridge just before the hit there, seems not quite so much at the point of collapse, hopefully.

 

[cupid_stunt]

News conference due shortly, live on Sky, and no doubt other news channels.

 

[CNT36]

Human error maybe. Spring tide. Lunar eclipse and over an hour from low tide. Not a huge amount of water and the tide not at its quickest but quicker than normal due to the Full moon and a fair bit off slack. Who knows whats building up against those pillars. A bit of funny water coming off that and the pillars themselves who knows.

 

[CNT36]

Just found the name and had a look at the AIS. You can see it goes straight then veers of to starboard.

 

[Gromit]

Bridge went down in seconds.

Surely ships should never have been allowed anywhere near it if it was that easy to collapse.

Or some sort of defences mounted around supporting pillars.

Terrorists will be looking at this and thinking hmmm we could do this somewhere else.