Baltimore: 'Mass casualty event' as bridge hit by ship collapses into river - BBC News
At least 7 believed to be in the water and being treated as a mass casualty event
EDIT: see it's already been posted - mods is it possible to merge on Vanilla?
Christ, never seen a whole bridge collapse before.
Obviously Russia/KGB!
I am just amazed that in the design and construction of the bridge, it wasn't factored into the very real possibility of a bridge strike.
Unless it was due to poor maintenance, which has been flagged already
https://infrastructurereportcard.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Bridges-2021.pdf
I've had bad days in work, but imagine being the ship's pilot!
"Honey, I'll be a little late this evening. Had a bit of a tip"
Was just thinking that myself - there were two pilots apparently! All passengers on the ship accounted for and safe.
The Greek is behind this.
I was going to say it might have been designed before ships became the monstrous size they regularly are today but it was only built in 1972 so it's not even that old relatively speaking.
Locust Point represent!
I was just thinking that Rawls is probably arguing the ship hit the bridge on the far side of the river.
Surprised at all the jokes about this event given it has already been described as a "mass casualty event" by the authorities.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alm%C3%B
6_Bridge
reminded me of this, presumably there has been other incidents where ships knocked bridges.
..
I thought it was a movie scene when it came up in my feed, horrific stuff.
I suspect this will turn out to be another example of extremely poor infrastructure maintenance in the states - it's remarkable how quickly it fell like a tower of cards.
Happened so fast. Nobody on the bridge would have stood a chance :(
It's pretty horrifying- small mercy might be that it sounds like bridge didn't have major volume of traffic on it. But obviously tragic for families of those thst did die.
Aside from tragic loss of lives, I wonder the impact on people's livelihoods? A replacement bridge would be years in building?
The ship that hit it was huge, on its way to Columbo. Due there on the 22nd of April, it's going to be late !!
It's going to be one of the most expensive insurance claims ever.
Ship had 2 pilots on board that are both apparently still alive, if they both fucked this up then that is really extraordinary.
Only 20?
Bloody drama lamas.
That’s still pretty bad.
I love two official announcements I've seen.
"Bridge is currently closed to traffic" 🤣🤣 (maybe they hope that with a bit of tape they will have it open later)
and the usual "terrorism link has not yet been ruled out" - though at least they did add "but its does seem unlikely"
Just as well it was in the early hours and not peek morning rush hour. Video on Sky news of it collapsing, it was in the water in seconds. Unlikely its maintenance related either, looks like a direct hit to the bridge supports.
Scary how fast it collapsed, some American infrastructure makes you glad of the seeming overengineering that goes into Irish suspended roads and bridges.
I think the bridge was closed after the initial collision and the bulk of casualties may be workers who were assessing the bridge or controlling traffic. Brings back memories of the bridge in Italy.
Rest in peace
7 people are missing.
But Americans love their endless press conferences.
...we ll fly you over folks, fcuk you in the water, and see what happens, im sure you ll be grand!
The video I saw seemed at first glance to show it falling as the ship hit it; rather than collapsing some time later?
Its not a maintenance issue, it is lack of protection for the piers , an issue which was Raised in the states after an earlier incident.
Its a very well proven design.
I would posit that if one of your legs was taken out from under you..... would you blame poor maintenance :0
What cant be discounted is that the nav system was compromised by Chinese/Russian hackers.
I know potholes are a minor irritant in comparison to a bridge collapsing, but somehow I suspect that the state of the road leading to the bridge, as seen in the foreground there, may be indicative of the general state of disrepair of the whole zone, including the bridge.
In fact, any time I've been in the States I've always noticed the terrible state of many of their roads and streets. I didn't really think to be afraid when crossing bridges, but that was before bridges started falling down all over the place. It just always struck me because I felt it was a strange state of affairs for one of the richest and most developed countries in the world. I'd probably be a lot more concerned now I think.
Yes, but I had expected a higher number when I read the “mass casualty” expression. I’m sure I’m not the only one who thought this?
At least it didn’t happen at peak traffic time.
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