As Baltimore reels following a cargo ship’s overnight collision with a major bridge, Mayor Brandon Scott is making a plea to media repeatedly showing video of the catastrophe: Stop it now.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge crumbled into the Patapsco River around 1:20 a.m. on Tuesday after the cargo ship, named Dali, made contact with the mile-long span as cars crossed the structure that connects Baltimore City and neighboring Anne Arundel County.
There were multiple cars on the bridge when Dali struck it, resulting in a major rescue mission being waged as the sun rose amid murky water conditions replete with debris obstructing first responders’ efforts, the Baltimore Sun reported.
There were also Department of Transportation contractors working on the bridge at the time of the collision.
Two people were rescued from the water. One of them died from their injuries and the other refused treatment, according to reports.
As many as seven people were feared to have fallen into the Patapsco River, which has waters with temperatures around 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Experts have estimated that no one can survive in waters with that temperature for more than three hours, in part because of the threat of hypothermia, which happens when the human body loses heat faster than it can be generated.
More from the Baltimore Sun:
In a Tuesday morning news conference, just a few hours after the incident, Baltimore Fire Department Chief James Wallace said authorities are “still very much in an active search and rescue posture.” He said they are searching for “upwards of seven individuals” and that sonar has detected the presence of vehicles in the water.
“This is a tragedy that you could never imagine … It looked like something out of an action movie,” Mayor Brandon Scott said.
CNN is among the national media outlets repeatedly showing video footage of the collision.
During its coverage, the cable news network interviewed Mayor Scott, who…
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