Everything we know about the Baltimore bridge collapse

we're coming on the air this hour with

some breaking news out of Baltimore this

is where the Francis Scott Key bridge

has collapsed after one of its columns

was hit by a cargo ship the Baltimore

City Fire Department says it is unsure

how many vehicles were on the bridge

when this happened but there was a

tractor trailer on it take a look at

this

video cbs's Jared Hill is here with more

on this story Jared this video just so

dramatic I mean this is unbelievable

Chanel looking at this video where you

see the ship hit one of the columns and

then the bridge just collapsed into the

water a major bridge in Baltimore

Maryland has collapsed this happened

just before 1:30 a.m. a cargo ship was

seen crashing into the Francis Scott Key

bridge sing a huge section barreling

into the water the bridge is more than a

mile and a half long and officials

earlier this hour gave us an update we

learned there that two people have so

far been rescued we heard just uh within

the hour that the person who was

transported here and treated here

following that bridge collapse has been

discharged from Shock Trauma we've heard

from Shock Trauma officials that there

will be a press conference from

Physicians within the next 20 minutes or

so now because of HIPPA they're not

going to be able to provide much

information on the patient who the

patient is and the types of injuries

that they had and that they were dealing

with but they are going to discuss how

the hospital was prepared for this mass

casualty incident and how off-duty Shock

Trauma staff contacted the hospital and

offered their assistance as well as them

being a worldclass leading integrated

trauma facility I know we talked about a

lot of things that made this rescue

effort very Grim such as the visibility

in the water the temperature of the

water like we've said below 50° makes it

very difficult to survive and that's

assuming that your head is above the

water and that you can breathe during

this time we know these two individuals

were rescued pretty shortly after the

initial collapse one of them actually

refused medical treatment I guess they

walked away they weren't seriously

injured the other one was seriously

injured and arrived here at Shock Trauma

in serious condition but it is hopeful

that they have been discharged people

miles away reported feeling the ground

shake the explosive impact jolting them

from their beds well I was sleeping

about 1:30 I felt the vibration of the

house vibrating and heard the Big Bang

come down looked out on the water as you

can see you see the ship out there

sinking the bridge is gone and uh it was

it's unbelievable unbelievable I've been

in this neighborhood 5 57 years I

remember when they started building that

bridge and can't believe it's gone I

heard a very loud noise felt like or

heard like thunder to me however it's

like very long Thunder but it was very

loud I live not too far from here in

dundock so I thought it was Thunder or

possibly a train Crews worked for hours

in the dark cold Patapsco River to

rescue those who plunged into the water

members of a construction crew repairing

potholes on the structure I hope ever

single one of them's okay I prayed for

them I'll continue to pray until they're

found or okay investigators will look at

all aspects of the ship and the

bridge this is video from our WJZ crew

that passed under the Key Bridge 11

hours before its collapse my dad he

takes it the middle of the night to

basically like right in the morning cuz

that's what time he gets off so I

imagine him going over that bridge at

like 11:00 a.m. like it's got to be

crazy I'm sure you're going to hug your

dad when you see him I am the biggest

hug the port remains closed traffic

rerouted many simply cannot believe the

Key Bridge is gone you know we go

through a lot sometimes Baltimore gets a

bad rep

but uh that's the one amazing thing

about our community we all come together

and and we fight especially in times of

need and tragedy like this one Nicole

skanga has been following this story for

us all day in Maryland Nicole great to

have you with us you have some new

reporting about what happened on the

ship in the minutes before the bridge

was hit what can you tell

us yeah I want to outline a few things

uh Robert good to be with you first and

foremost I just heard from the Baltimore

County Executive he told me that roughly

2 minutes elapsed between when the pilot

and crew first notified Maryland

authorities that something was wrong

with the cargo containers ship Dolly and

when that Collision occurred at

approximately 1:30 a.m. that is how

quickly local law enforcement here had

to jump into action in order to close

down traffic to and from the bridge

we're also learning uh from local and

Federal law enforcement officials that

the tugs on the dolly were loose prior

uh to the Collision that occurred uh

that it is standard operating procedure

for the tugs to escort uh these large

container ships out of the port out of

their docking station but that it is not

required for an escort to be there uh

when when going under the Francis Scott

Key bridge and so an important note

there and also key for law enforcement

uh in the coming days and spefic

specifically the NTSB which has launched

its independent investigation of this is

getting on board the ship they were not

able NTSB to get on the ship today to

get those recorders to determine at what

time did the power go off at what time

uh did the ships controls really get out

of whack here I was told by law

enforcement uh by internal briefing

papers that uh there were alarms that

rang out aboard the dolly uh that the

pilot in crw really had seconds to run a

few system checks and that it was at

that moment that the system checks

failed that they reached out and

notified Maryland authorities this

morning Maryland governor Wes Moore says

the ship sent a Mayday call after losing

power this enabled officials there to

limit some traffic on the bridge before

the

crash I recognize that many of us are

scared right now and so I want to be

very clear about where everything

stands we are still investing tigating

what happened but we are quickly

Gathering details the preliminary

investigation points to an accident we

haven't seen any credible evidence of a

terrorist attack our Administration is

working closely with leaders from all

levels of government and Society to

respond to this crisis and not but just

by addressing the immediate aftermath

but also by building a state that is

more resilient and a state that's more

safe and I want to bring in Nicole

skanga for more on this story she's on

the ground near the scene of this

collapse at this media checkpoint uh

Nicole you've been there all morning

hearing about this Mayday call that

happens uh before the bridge went down

May indicate what led up to this whole

incident yeah the city of Baltimore

right now in shock and a dramatic

retelling from the governor just then

about this Mayday call now CBS News has

obtained an unclassified Memo from the

Department of Homeland Security that

indicates uh the cargo ship had lost

propulsion it was a motor ship it had

lost propulsion and the memo goes on to

say that the The Vessel notified the

Maryland Department of Transportation

that they had lost control of the vessel

and that a collision with the bridge was

possible just moments ago I asked the

Baltimore mayor Mayor Scott about this

moment he said it was critical in order

for emergency Personnel to get to the

scene and for law enforcement to push

back any further traffic so that no one

else crossed so this Mayday call he says

saved many lives here in Baltimore so I

want to speak briefly about the terrible

incident and accident that happened in

Baltimore this morning at about 1:30

container ship struck the Francis Scott

Key bridge which I've been over many

many times commuting from the state of

Delaware either our trainer by car been

to Baltimore Harvard many times and uh

the bridge collapsed sending several

people Vehicles into the water into the

river and the multiple US Coast Guard

units which are stationed very nearby

thank God were immediately deployed

along with local emergency personnel and

the Coast Guard is leading the response

to the port where representatives from

the Federal Highway Administration the

FBI the Department of Transportation the

Army Corps of Engineers as well as

Maryland officials and Baltimore Police

and Fire they're all working together to

coordinate an emergency response

officials at the scene EST eight people

were unaccounted for still not still

were unaccounted for that number might

change two have been rescued one without

Injury One in critical condition and the

search and rescue operation is

continuing for all those remaining as we

speak I spoke with Governor Moore this

morning as well as the mayor Baltimore

the county executive United to both

United States senators and the

congressman and my secretary

transportation is on the scene I told

them we're going to send all the federal

resources they need as we respond to

this emergency and I mean all the

federal resources and we're going to

rebuild that Port together everything so

far indicates that this was a terrible

accident at this time we have no other

indication no other reason to believe

there's any intentional act here

Personnel on board the ship were able to

alert the Maryland Department of

Transportation that they had lost

control of their vessel as you all know

and reported as a result local

authorities were able to close the

bridge of traffic before the bridge was

struck which doubtedly Sav lives and our

prayers are with everyone involved in

this terrible accident all the families

especially those waiting for the news of

their loved one right now I know every

minute in that circumstance feels like a

lifetime you just don't know it's just

terrible we're incredibly grateful for

the brave Rescuers who immediately rush

to the scene and to the people of

Baltimore who want to say we're with you

we're going to stay with you as long as

it takes and like Governor said your

Maryland tough your Baltimore strong and

we're going to get through this together

and I promise we're not leaving here's

what's happening now the search and

rescue operation is our top priority

ship traffic in the Port of Baltimore

has been suspended until further notice

and we'll need to clear that channel

before the ship traffic can resume the

Army Corps of Engineers is on the spot

and is going to help lead this effort to

clear the channel the Port of Baltimore

is one of the nation's largest shipping

hubs and I been there a number of times

as a senator and as a vice president it

handles a record amount of cargo last

year it's also the top port in America

for both imports and exports of

automobiles and light trucks around

850,000 Vehicles go through that Port

every single year and we're going to get

it up and running again as soon as

possible 15,000 jobs depend on that port

and we're going to do everything we can

to protect those jobs and help those

workers the bridge is also critical to

for travel not just for Baltimore but

for the Northeast Corridor over 30,000

Vehicles cross the Francis scoty bridge

on a daily basis is

virtually that well it's one of the most

important elements for the economy in

the Northeast and the quality of life my

Transportation secretary is there now as

I told Governor Moore I've directed my

team to move Heaven and Earth to reopen

the port and rebuild the bridge as soon

as humanly possible and we're going to

work hand inand with the support of

Maryland to support Maryland whatever

they ask for we're going to work with

our partners in Congress to make sure

the state gets the support it needs it's

my intention that federal government

will pay for the entire cost of

reconstructing that bridge and I expect

the Congress to support my effort this

is going to take some time the people of

Baltimore can count on us though to

stick with them at every step of the way

until the port is reopened and the

bridge is rebuilt you know we're not

leaving until this job gets done not

leave until then so I just want to say

God bless everybody who uh everyone harm

this morning and their families and may

God bless the First Responders many of

them risking their lives March 23rd

1977 Baltimore welcomed the Key Bridge

spaning across the psico river

completing the Eastern sector of I

695 the bridge was a key part of you

know the skyline of our infrastructure

um it it knits together the fabric of

communities connecting dun to Baltimore

and Baltimore to the world construction

on the 1.6 mile bridge started in

1972 to ease congestion throughout the

city Nicholas reading CEO and president

of preservation Maryland says the

estimated $110 million project filled a

major void in transportation shipping

and infrastructure they knew that there

had to be a second Crossing and

initially they thought that they would

build uh a tunnel um but the the reality

was the tunnel was going to be too

expensive uh and this bridge would not

only uh be cheaper but would allow them

to move a lot of materials um in a

pretty heavily congested area one of the

longest truss bridges in the United

States named after Francis Scott Key who

was inspired to write the Star Spangled

Banner after witnessing the bombardment

of Fort McKenry and 8 154 CU it's

believed that key was about 100 yard

away give or take from the bridge itself

when he was a board ship and penned what

would become uh our Star Spangled Banner

also nestled between Fort Carroll and

its 47 years the iconic Bridge has

undergone many changes and perhaps the

most notable its expansion to the lanes

leading up to it there was expansion

efforts to make sure that there were

four lanes meeting it on either side um

so there have been upgrades expansions

done to this uh facility over the years

aiding the nearly 31,000 people that

mdta says traveled the bridge each and

every day and over 11 million a year

sometimes we take things like this for

granted and then when we lose them um

you know we we really see the impact

quite profoundly the effort to rebuild

it uh is going to be equally historic um

because it's going to be uh a big effort

to not only do that but to do it quickly

safely

and we want to take you now to Baltimore

where officials are giving an update on

this morning's bridge collapse as well

as Colonel Roland L Butler Jr

superintendent Maryland State Police uh

tonight we're going to hear from uh

brief statement from each of them on

current

updates and after that we'll be able to

take a few questions uh but we do need

to keep it brief because we want to get

these folks back to work uh with that

I'd like to introduce re Admiral Shannon

G hey good evening everyone first I'd

like to say thank you to all of the

First Responders that have come out

today to assist in looking for these

individuals we've had tremendous support

across the state and County and City and

federal Enterprise you've seen for

yourself the helicopters flying over the

small boats that are out there the Coast

Guard Cutters out there the boats that

go back and forth bringing people out on

scene to search for these individuals so

thank you to those this entire Community

for helping in that regard second I want

to say thank you to the community for

the outpouring of support to those First

Responders and in particularly the

outpouring of support and prayers and

support for the families of the six

individuals so i' would like to announce

tonight that based on the length of time

that we've gone in the search the

extensive search efforts that we've put

into it the water temperature that at

this point we do not believe that we're

going to find any of these individuals

still alive and so this evening at about

uh 7:30 we are going to suspend the

active search and rescue efforts Coast

Guard's not going away none of our

partners are going away but we're just

going to transition to a different phase

and so I'm going to turn it over to

Colonel Butler

please good evening and thank you all

for being here to Echo the adal's

comments here we really appreciate the

support from the community to all the

First Responders here we appreciate your

patience and allowing us to do the best

job possible and get the information as

it comes up at this point as the Admiral

said we're going away from the search

and rescue portion so a recovery

operation the changing conditions out

there have made it dangerous for the

First Responders the divers in the water

we will still have surface ships out

overnight at 0600 hours tomorrow we are

hoping to put divers in the water and

begin a more detailed search to do our

very best to recover those six missing

people

I

gu thank you with that we have time for

just a few questions we know there's a

lot of questions uh that still have to

be answered and uh we do have time for

just a few so uh if we could take a few

please so do we think it's it's still

just six there's talk of maybe other

cars on the bridge all the information

we have is six individuals got it yes

sir can you go into detail uh about how

difficult this might be for the recovery

uh phase of this now like what kind of

challenges are you up

against well I I'll start by saying I'm

going to turn it over to the experts on

diving I'm not an expert on diving but

we've got very difficult water

temperatures you have structures from

the bridge that are in the water that

can move with the tides and currents

making that dangerous for divers and

people in the water to actually try to

do recovery and we do not want to injure

any of these First Responders in this

recovery effort we we absolutely want to

be as safe as possible for everyone

involved in this and I'll I'll let see C

has anything he wants to add can you go

into specifics about what the search and

rescue entailed like were there scuba

divers or was everything above water

sear any sort of equipment that might

have been utilized over the past 12

hours from the outset we moved all those

resources in with dive teams from

various State local and uh County

agencies we also use

sonar we're doing our very best in some

very difficult times and difficult

conditions which is why we're making

that transition now the last thing we

want to do is put divers in the water

with changing currents low temperatures

very poor visibility visibility and so

much metal and other unknown objects in

the water all it takes is one object to

strike an individual and all of a sudden

we have a first responder trying to

recover another first responder I think

at 0600 we'll find oursel in a better

position to understand the Dynamics of

what we're dealing with and to address

the issue in a much safer manner did the

authorities have six IDs now and have

those victims each been contacted those

families I should say I can't speak on

that that's still in the investigative

portion of this can you speak to some of

the difficulties in actually retrieving

The Remains have any remains been

retrieved so far we've also heard

reports that there might be individuals

inside of vehicles that there might be

debris that has made it more challenging

for FBI and other law enforcement to

deploy all of that is unknown at this

point and as I said we have to cease

operations we can't start again until we

can ensure the safety of those divers

and the rescue Personnel that are going

to participate in this if we look at how

how challenging it is at a simple motor

vehicle crash to extract an individual

I'm sure we can all imagine how much

harder it is to do it than climate

weather when it's cold under the water

with very limited to no visibility so

just to clarify no remains have been

removed thus far by search and rescue

teams other than the two who were

rescued a lot earlier that is correct so

Colonel you're confident then that no

other vehicles made it onto that bridge

before the collapse or as it was

collapsing I should

say based upon the fact the original

information that was provided the

Maryland Transportation Authority police

Department was able to shut down traffic

is there the possibility there was

another vehicle on there other than

those Vehicles involved in the

construction process I think we all

would have to understand yes that's a

distinct

possibility as unfortunate as may be

it's a distinct possibility however we

don't have any information to support

that at this point when you bring the

divers out do you have an idea of where

you individuals are if they were in cars

or not and do you know how long the

recovery effort is going to take we do

not know at this point I'm sure as

you've seen some of the aerial photos

there is a tremendous amount of debris

in the water from containers hanging off

ships we have to make sure those ass

shorted up we're going to work with

Structural Engineers to help them

understand how to navigate and address

the challenges of having Bridge

structure in the water that may be sharp

that could puncture a suit that could

puncture an airline all of these are

things that we must take our time with

where the vics are this last question

I'm sorry where the victims are located

in the water been find them yet if

they're in cars or not at this point we

do not know where they are but we intend

to give it our best effort to help these

families find closure how might

inclement weather tomorrow impact the

recovery

efforts very clearly it could but we're

going to do everything in our power to

help these families find closure theat

has Bo how get their names title

spelling anybody folks we're going to be

we're going to be established a unified

command as well as a joint information

center and I know there's a lot of

questions um and we're going to be

providing that information where we will

uh continue to provide updates uh but

that is that is the extent of our

updates tonight we thank you all for

coming you've been listening to

officials give an update on the major

bridge collapse in Baltimore the Coast

Guard says the search and rescue

operation is being suspended it expects

the six missing workers are likely dead

Linda Tran joins me now she's a former

senior adviser to trans a secretary Pete

Budaj she is currently a partner at Epic

Works advisers a consulting firm working

in the transportation sector thanks so

much for joining us we just heard the

search and rescue is being suspended um

what does the rest of an investigation

into an incident obviously this is an

extraordinary incident but what else

might it look like the investigation

into an incident like

this well first of all I think it's

important to understand that there are

two parallel but related processes that

will be underway so earlier today we

heard from chair Jennifer homendy and

the national Transportation safety board

which will be looking into everything

from the operations and safety protocols

that were uh taking place all around the

cargo vessel itself as well as taking a

look at the technology and any sort of

forensic evidence that they can Discover

at the same time the US Department of

Transportation the US Coast Guard and

the Maryland Transportation Authority

you can expect they will once the

recovery effort has ended they will be

taking on additional information they'll

be dredging the waterways there to make

sure that operations can get underway as

quickly as possible the responsibilities

on the US do side of things will be

things like supply chain disruptions and

making sure that the roadways are open

and functioning as quickly and as

responsibly as possible while the NTSB

continues to look at the safety

implications any sort of uh Tim line and

detailed protocol that uh will be a

result of their discussions and the

information that they discover and Linda

I want to ask you about that supply

chain um disruption this has forced the

Port of Baltimore to close indefinitely

and I just want to run through some of

the statistics about the port it handled

$80 billion worth of cargo in 23 the

port supports more than 15,000 jobs and