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March 27, 2024 - Baltimore Key Bridge collapse

By Kathleen Magramo, Antoinette Radford, Alisha Ebrahimji, Maureen Chowdhury, Elise Hammond, Tori B. Powell and Aditi Sangal, CNN

Updated 1:47 p.m. ET, March 28, 2024

What we covered here

The bodies of two of the construction workers who died after a 984-foot-long cargo ship hit a pillar of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge have been recovered, officials said Wednesday. Search efforts have been paused for the four other workers who are presumed dead.
The investigation into the collision could take up to two years, according to National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy.
The crew first signaled trouble with the vessel when a pilot radioed for help from tugboats at about 1:26 a.m. ET Tuesday – just about three minutes before the ship hit a bridge column, the NTSB said, citing data from a voyage recorder.
The collapse has indefinitely halted the flow of ships in and out of Baltimore, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said rebuilding the bridge won't be "quick or easy."

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5:07 p.m. ET, March 27, 2024

Buttigieg outlines priorities in reopening Baltimore port and offloading cargo from other ships

From CNN’s Jamiel Lynch

Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN’s Phil Mattingly his agency is focused on four things following the Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore:

Working with the city to get the bridge back up
Dealing with traffic impacts
Reopening the port
Making sure the supply chain impacts are dealt with.

Buttigieg called the reopening of the port the most “acute short-term concern” especially for the workers impacted with about $2 million a day being lost in wages, he said.

Other ships stuck at the port have to be unloaded and have cargo offloaded and transported by land to get to other ports during this closure, which Buttigieg described it as a “complicated operation.”

Parties that are found accountable for the incident will be held liable, Buttigieg promised, but said that process will now slow the process of reopening the port.

“We’re going to make sure that those federal resources are put together upfront so that nothing unnecessarily delays the roadway back to normal. Workers are counting on it, people who depend on these shipments, whether they realize it or not, they’re counting on it and about 30,000 vehicles a day that go over that bridge, they’re counting on us doing everything in our power to get them back to normal,” Buttigieg said.

“It will not be quick and it will not be easy, but we’re committed to do it as long as it takes,” he said.

4:55 p.m. ET, March 27, 2024

Baltimore Orioles will hold moment of silence for bridge workers at season opener

From CNN's Wayne Sterling

The Baltimore Orioles will honor the people who are presumed dead in the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse at the season opener on Thursday.

The team said the moment of silence will also pay tribute to the city's "brave first responders who immediately stepped into action."

The Orioles are scheduled to face the Los Angeles Angels at Camden Yards in Baltimore at 3:05 p.m. ET on Thursday.

4:21 p.m. ET, March 27, 2024

Maryland governor and other officials to hold news conference at 5:30 p.m. ET

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Sen. Ben Cardin, Sen. Chris Van Hollen as well as officials from the Maryland State Police, US Coast Guard and the Maryland Department of Transportation will hold a news conference at 5:30 p.m. ET.

They will discuss updates on efforts underway following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on Tuesday.

1:47 p.m. ET, March 28, 2024

Here's how the Army Corps of Engineers plan to clear the shipping channel

From CNN's Aditi Sangal

More than 1,000 US Army Corps of Engineers personnel were activated to help clear the critical shipping channel where Baltimore's Key Bridge collapsed.

Lt. Gen. Scott Spellmon, commander and chief of engineers, explained the team will approach the mission in three steps. Here's what they are:

Step 1: Get the steel truss out of a 700-foot-wide by 50-foot-deep channel, and examine what parts of the concrete are still at the bottom. "Any piece of concrete, any piece of steel on the bottom is just as much as of a hazard as that in the channel," Spellmon said. This step will allow "one-way traffic going in and out of the Port of Baltimore again," he said.
Step 2: Work closely with the Coast Guard to stabilize containers on top of the ship. Then the truss of the bridge that is still on top of the ship needs to be taken off "so it can be tugged to a safe part of the port," Spellmon said. "By removing the vessel, that will allow us to reopen two-way traffic."
Step 3: Take out the remaining 2,900 feet of steel and all the associated concrete and roadway that's at the river bottom.

"We're up to this task. We have what we need," Spellmon said.

This post has been updated with additional information about the bridge collapse.

4:43 p.m. ET, March 27, 2024

EPA not aware of any fuel leakage after bridge collapse, spokesperson says

From CNN’s Ella Nilsen

The Dali cargo ship is seen after crashing into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on March 26. Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post/Getty Images

The Environmental Protection Agency is not aware of any fuel leakage at this point after a ship hit Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, a spokesperson said.

Earlier Wednesday at a White House briefing, Coast Guard Vice Admiral Peter Gautier said the vessel is stable but still has over 1.5 million gallons of fuel onboard.

The US Coast Guard would be the ones to determine if there is a fuel leak because they are the lead agency, EPA Region 3 spokesperson Shaun Eagan told CNN.

Some background: Members of the Coast Guard detected an oil sheen on the water near the wreckage of the Key Bridge on Tuesday. However, they have not yet determined the source of the fuel discharge, according to USCG Petty Officer Kimberly Reaves.

3:52 p.m. ET, March 27, 2024

Maryland governor and other officials visit the scene of the bridge collapse

From CNN’s Gabe Cohen

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and several other officials were taken to the scene of the collision on Wednesday, his spokesperson told CNN.

“The governor surveyed the recovery area to further assess the damage. He along with other federal and local partners boarded a Coast Guard ship to receive a closer view and a better understanding of the ship’s path and how this incident occurred," the spokesperson said.
"This is part of the Governor’s efforts to continue the strong working relationship with the Coast Guard along with our federal partners, thank first responders working on the scene, and to learn more about the events that took place,” the spokesperson added.

Other officials included Sen. Ben Cardin, Mayor Brandon Scott, Congressman David Trone, County Executive Johnny Olszewski and County Executive Steuart Pittman.

3:45 p.m. ET, March 27, 2024

NTSB is leading the bridge collapse investigation. This is what investigators are working on

From CNN staff

Investigators are focusing on how a massive cargo ship collided into a key Baltimore bridge — and whether any preventative measures could have helped mitigate the bridge collapse.

The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation, NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said. The board will try to determine what occurred onboard Dali and also look at the structure of the bridge itself.

Here's what the NTSB is working on:

Investigators boarded the ship overnight and retained the vessel’s recorder or black box, she said. They will use this to put together a timeline of what led to the ship hitting the bridge.
In this, the NTSB will look to verify reports that the ship had power issues and lost propulsion just before hitting the pillar, Homendy said.
A team of 24 investigators planned to return to the vessel on Wednesday to focus on collecting the perishable evidence, including pictures of the vessel, she said.
Investigators will also begin interviews with Dali's crew. A specialized team will determine who was controlling the vessel and who was on the ship’s bridge at the time of the crash.
The NTSB will additionally look at the structure of the Francis Scott Key Bridge and the debris that fell into the water or onto the ship, Homendy said. It will determine whether there were other measures that “should have been in place to prevent this type of destruction from occurring," she said, including things like "dolphins" and "fenders," structures aimed at protecting the bridge.

3:34 p.m. ET, March 27, 2024

7 Brawner Builders employees were on the bridge when it collapsed, executive tells CNN

From CNN’s Danny Freeman and Linh Tran

Seven Brawner Builder employees were on the Francis Scott Key Bridge on the night of the collapse, Brawner Builders Executive Vice President Jeffrey Pritzker told CNN.

One survived, and the other six are presumed dead.

"These were wonderful young men," he said. "They were doing a tough job. These guys were hardworking wonderful people and now they're gone."

Pritzker told CNN he doesn't know how the worker managed to survive, saying the survivor isn’t ready to talk about his experience yet but he is “very, very upset," has injuries and is suffering from stress.

"It's amazing that he did survive," Pritzker said, adding that the worker was able to swim away.

Most of the seven men have worked for Brawner Builders for years, according to Pritzker and were doing concrete remediation work, including filling potholes on the Key Bridge on the night of the collapse.

Pritzker also said the owner of Brawner Builders spent the night of the collapse praying their people would be found alive.

When it became apparent the other six employees were presumed dead, the owner and seniors in the company gathered the families together and spent the morning with them.

"We will make sure the families are well taken care of," Pritzker said.

Pritzker said the company is in the process of putting together compensation packages for the families.

3:31 p.m. ET, March 27, 2024

Man from Guatemala identified as one of the missing construction workers after Key Bridge collapse

From CNN’s Danny Freeman and Caroll Alvarado

One of the construction workers missing from the bridge collapse in Baltimore is Dorlian Castillo Cabrera from Guatemala, family members told CNN on Wednesday.

Guatemala's Ministry of Foreign Affairs identified Tuesday two of its nationals among those unaccounted for: a 26-year-old from San Luis, Petén, and a 35-year-old from Camotán, Chiquimula. The 26-year-old is Dorlian, his cousin confirmed to CNN.

Here's what his family told CNN about Castillo Cabrera:

What his sister-in-law said: He had been working at Brawner Builders for at least three years and loved his job. He was not married and did not have children, Pima Castillo said.

What his cousin said: Castillo Cabrera came to the US to follow his dream and help his mother, Marlon Castillo said. “Unfortunately, he was in a place where no one imagined what was going to happen.”