Authorities in Baltimore were yesterday focusing on expanding recovery efforts after a cargo ship slammed into a major bridge, causing it to collapse and leaving six people presumed dead.
All six were members of a construction crew repairing potholes on the Francis Scott Key Bridge in the US city when the structure was sent careening into the Patapsco River at about 1:30am on Tuesday.
A desperate search in near-freezing conditions managed to pull two people from the choppy waters, but after nearly 16 hours, officials said they had given up hope of rescuing the others.
Photo: AFP
“At this point, we do not believe that we’re going to find any of these individuals still alive,” US Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath told reporters as night fell on Tuesday.
He added that responders were transitioning “to a different phase.”
Maryland Secretary of State Police Roland Butler told the same news conference that the focus would shift to a “recovery operation” by yesterday morning.
“We’re hoping to put divers in the water and begin a more detailed search to do our very best to recover those six missing people,” he said.
After the search effort was called off, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott emphasized the need to help families of the victims “get the closure they deserve.”
“My heart is with those families tonight and in the days ahead,” he said in a statement.
One of the missing workers was father-of-three Miguel Luna, according to Casa, a nonprofit that serves immigrant communities.
Luna, from El Salvador, had left for work at 6:30pm on Monday and never returned, Casa said.
His wife, Maria del Carmen Castellon, told Telemundo 44 that she was “devastated” by the wait for any information.
Two of the other missing workers were from Guatemala, the Guatemalan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, while news Web site the Baltimore Banner reported that Mexican and Honduran nationals were also among the victims.
“My heart hurts with this situation,” said Jesus Campos, a construction company employee who said he worked alongside the missing. “They’re human beings and they are my colleagues.”
Footage of the collision showed packed container ship the Dali slamming into one of the bridge’s supports, causing the 47-year-old structure to collapse into one of the busiest US commercial harbors.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
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