BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Emergency crews have recovered two bodies from the water after a major highway bridge collapsed in the harbor of the US city of Baltimore. The Maryland State Police announced on Wednesday evening (local time) that divers had pulled the bodies of the 26 and 35-year-old men from a pickup truck at a depth of seven meters. Meanwhile, it became known that there were large quantities of hazardous substances on board the damaged cargo ship that had caused the bridge to collapse.

The approximately 290-metre-long container ship "Dali" rammed into a support pillar of the four-lane Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday night, causing the more than 2.5-kilometre-long structure to collapse. According to Maryland Secretary of Transportation Paul Wiedefeld, eight construction workers were on the bridge repairing potholes at the time of the accident. Two of them were rescued on Tuesday. There was no trace of the six others - who, according to the police, were from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

Vehicles plunged into the water and buried under rubble

The bodies that have now been found are two of these missing construction workers, as the Washington Post reported, citing their employers. The authorities assume that the other missing persons are also dead and that their bodies cannot be recovered for the time being. "We have exhausted all search efforts in the vicinity of this scene," said Roland Butler of the Maryland State Police on Wednesday evening. The use of sonar technology had shown that other vehicles that had fallen into the water were surrounded by debris and concrete and were therefore inaccessible. The conditions in the water around the huge pieces of debris were now so dangerous that divers could no longer move around safely.

The ship's crew had made an emergency call before the collision, which probably saved lives - as officials on land stopped traffic and prevented more cars from reaching the bridge. "There is a ship approaching that has just become rudderless," can be heard in a police audio recording from the night of the accident published on the internet, "stop traffic on Key Bridge." A few seconds before the collision, one of the officers announced that he would drive onto the bridge to bring the workers to safety. But by 1.29 a.m., the accident had already happened: "To whoever, to everyone: the whole bridge has just collapsed."

In the hours following the accident, emergency services initially concentrated on searching for survivors. In the meantime, however, intensive investigations into the course of the accident have also begun. Representatives of the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) boarded the freighter for the first time on Wednesday. The head of the agency, Jennifer Homendy, presented initial details of the investigation in the evening (local time).

Investigators have a "huge undertaking" ahead of them

Among other things, investigators secured the so-called voyage data recorder. This is particularly important for investigating the cause. According to the recordings on it, crew members reported shortly before the collision that the freighter had problems with the power supply and no more propulsion. However, it is still unclear how this happened.

According to Homendy, 23 crew members were on board the freighter at the time of the accident. The ship's cargo included 56 containers with hazardous materials, such as corrosive or flammable substances - weighing a total of 764 tons. Some of the dangerous goods containers were damaged.

Homendy emphasized that information would first be gathered and that conclusions and assessments regarding the cause of the accident would only be made later. The investigation is a "huge undertaking" that is likely to take many months. However, an initial preliminary report should be presented in two to four weeks.

Transport authority: bridge design outdated

The bridge, which was completed in 1977, was in "satisfactory condition" before the accident, said Homendy. The last major inspection had taken place in May 2023. However, the bridge was built using a construction method in which the failure of a critical component could cause a complete or partial collapse. Nowadays, other methods of bridge construction are preferred.

As part of the Interstate 695 interregional highway, the Francis Scott Key Bridge spanned the harbor of the East Coast metropolis of Baltimore. Homendy said an average of more than 30,000 vehicles crossed the bridge each day./jac/DP/mis