A giant crane is to be deployed in the eastern US city of Baltimore on Thursday as part of efforts to clear debris from the collapsed bridge, with authorities warning that reopening the important port American economy, will take a long time.
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The Francis Scott Key Bridge, used every day by tens of thousands of vehicles, collapsed like a house of cards on Tuesday, after being hit by a container ship, blocking the entrance to the port of Baltimore. The bodies of two of the six missing workers were found on Wednesday.
“We are moving heaven and earth” to get the port operational again, White House advisor Tom Perez said Thursday. “A large capacity crane ship will be on site during the day to help collect the debris,” he added in an interview with the American channel MSNBC.
Officials, however, warned that the difficulties were significant, the search for the bodies of the four men still missing having been interrupted late Wednesday, the authorities considering it too dangerous to send divers to the site of the accident.
The four men, all Latin American immigrants, are believed to have been killed after the Dali, a 300 meter long and 48 meter wide container ship, crashed into a bridge pier due to propulsion problems. .
These men were part of a team of eight workers working at night to repair the road. Two of them were rescued shortly after the bridge collapsed.
Area residents participated in a vigil at a nearby park Thursday morning, local media reported, while Baltimore City Hall launched a fundraiser to support the victims’ families.
As for reconstruction, it “is not going to take hours nor days nor weeks”, also warned Wes Moore, governor of the state of Maryland, where Baltimore is located, referring to “a very long road to go” before returning to normal.
Maryland has asked the federal government for an initial envelope of $60 million for “immediate efforts” on site and a “rapid recovery,” added the governor.
After the tragedy, President Joe Biden pledged that the federal administration would cover the entire cost of rebuilding the bridge.
