Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore... (2 Viewers)

The bridge over Charleston harbor was closed during the day today due to a container ship that lost steering - headed out-bound stuck full-ahead. I drive over that bridge at least twice a day. It was completed in 2005 and has what appears to be good protection from a ship strike on the main supports, but there are a couple on the side that don't . . . but I think the ship would ground before it got to them.



 
The main shipping channel into Baltimore’s port has fully reopened to its original depth and width following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which blocked most maritime traffic into the harbor.

Officials announced the full reopening on Monday evening. It comes after a massive cleanup effort as crews removed an estimated 50,000 tons of steel and concrete from the Patapsco River.

The channel was blocked by wreckage of the fallen bridge, which collapsed after a container ship lost power and crashed into one of its supporting columns, sending six members of a roadwork crew plunging to their deaths. All of the victims were Latino immigrants working an overnight shift to fill potholes on the bridge.

The Port of Baltimore, which processes more cars and farm equipment than any other in the country, was effectively closed for several weeks while the wreckage was removed. Crews were able to reopen portions of the deep-draft channel in phases, restoring some commercial traffic in recent weeks.….:


 
BALTIMORE — Julio Cervantes Suarez endured the unthinkable when a 100,000-plus-ton cargo shipcrashed into the bridge he was working on, collapsing the critical structure and sending him tumbling into the dark, unforgiving waters below.

Cervantes Suarez, 37, was one of seven construction workers who had been fixing potholes on the Francis Scott Key Bridge when it went crumbling down into the Patapsco River in the early morning hours of March 26.

The men, who were all Latino, included his nephew, brother-in-law and friends he had known for years. They were all on break, some inside their cars and others in construction vehicles, when the bridge fell.

Cervantes Suarez, who spoke exclusively to NBC News for the first time since the bridge collapse, said he saw his family members and friends disappear into the river one by one, knowing he was next. His nephew, Carlos Daniel Hernández, whom he considered a son, was the first to fall.

In what he thought were his final moments, he turned to God.

“I thanked God for family he gave me. I asked him to take care of my wife and kids. And I asked for forgiveness for everything I’ve done,” Cervantes Suarez said in Spanish, his voice breaking.

Cervantes Suarez, the only person to survive the fall into the water, was in his truck when the bridge went down.

After his truck slammed into the river, Cervantes Suarez said the water “came up to my neck” and he was unable to open the doors to escape.

He manually rolled down the vehicle's window to exit, swallowing water as his truck became completely inundated and sank.

“That’s when I realized what happened. I looked at the bridge and it was no longer there,” Cervantes Suarez said.

He had seen his companions as they fell “and how the water covered them,” he said.

“I started to call out to each one of them by name,” he said.

“But no one answered me,” he said.…….

 
The families of victims who died in the Baltimore Bridge disaster are planning to file a request to stop the ship’s owner from escaping liability.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River on March 26 after being hit by the Dali, a 984ft cargo vessel, which had experienced two electrical failures the day before the incident and lost power shortly before it hit the structure…….

The families of Luna Gonzalez, Lopez and Castillo Cabrera now intend to submit a limitation of liability proceeding against Grace Ocean Private Limited, the ship’s owner, according to a Tuesday press conference.

Grace Ocean Limited filed a motion in April along with the ship’s operator, Synergy Marine, seeking to limit its liability in the incident to $43.7million, the value of the ship and its cargo at the time of the disaster.…..


 
It is hard for me to believe that the ship and cargo was only worth $43.7M at the time of the wreck.
 
WASHINGTON (AP) — The owner and manager of the cargo ship that caused the Baltimore bridge collapse have agreed to pay more than $100 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the Justice Department, officials said Thursday.

The settlement comes a month after the Justice Department sued Dali owner Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and manager Synergy Marine Group, both of Singapore, seeking to recover more than $100 million that the government spent to clear the underwater debris and reopen the city’s port.

“This resolution ensures that the costs of the federal government’s cleanup efforts in the Fort McHenry Channel are borne by Grace Ocean and Synergy and not the American taxpayer,” Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer said in a statement.

The Justice Department alleged that the electrical and mechanical systems on the ship, the Dali, were improperly maintained, causing it to lose power and veer off course before striking a support column on the Francis Scott Key Bridge in March.

The collapse snarled commercial shipping traffic through the Port of Baltimore for months before the channel was fully opened in June.……..


 

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