What happened?
In the early hours of Tuesday, a container ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland.
FBI Baltimore writes in a post on X: “There is no specific and credible information to suggest any ties to terrorism at this time. The investigation is ongoing.”
Casualties and injuries
As of right now, we do not yet have a clear overview of possible casualties.
Two people are confirmed to have been pulled out of the river, according to Reuters, with six still unaccounted for.
What happens now?
Brandon M. Scott, the Mayor of Baltimore, has declared a local state of emergency, stating, “Our teams are mobilizing resources and working swiftly to address this crisis and ensure the safety and well-being of our community.”
First responders continue to work to find the still missing persons.
The Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) has put flight restrictions in place around the bridge collapse to not interfere with search and rescue operations.
The bridge
The Francis Scott Key Bridge, which crossed the Patapsco River, was according to Maryland Governor Wes Moore “up to code” with no known problems.
It was 1.6 miles long and four lanes wide and saw around 31,000 cars per day.
The ship
The ship has been confirmed to be chartered by Danish shipping company Mærsk, CNN writes.
Mærsk saw its stocks close 2.64% down following the news of the tragedy.
The ship was operated by charter vessel company Synergy Marine Group, whose headquarters are located in Singapore.
The ship was built in 2015, has been inspected 27 times, and has had two deficiencies.