Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore...

Seven weeks after a cargo ship was first trapped under a portion of the Baltimore bridge it destroyed in March, a salvage crew detonated a cluster of tiny explosives Monday evening to free it.


There was a loud burst of dozens of coordinated blasts that broke apart the towering truss of the Francis Scott Key Bridge known as Section Four, which had fallen across the bow of the container ship Dali.


The small explosions blew apart the vast steel structure jutting from the water, sending pieces splashing down as black smoke rose beside the ship, which is resting against the muddy Patapsco River bed.

For days, salvage workers have been slicing openings in steel beams scrawled with spray-painted numbers to hold the miniature explosives.

Authorities said it was the fastest and safest way to dismantle the huge piece of the bridge and push the remnants away from the ship.

“It looked like a success,” said Kurt Rauschenberg, spokesman for the Baltimore District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He added, “That starts the clock for removing the ship from the federal channel.”

Teams will do an assessment of how the steel debris fell and use sonar to chart underwater debris, he said. They will also check for any charges that failed to explode………

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/05/13/explosives-free-dali-baltimore-bridge/