Baltimore Key Bridge latest: Alternate channel to open at collapse site

A Baltimore baker who drove over the Francis Scott Key Bridge seconds before its collapse, says he had been blissfully unaware of the catastrophe until receiving a call from a panicked co-worker.

Larry Desantis told the Baltimore Banner that despite being in the immediate vicinity he had not heard the container ship collide with the bridge because he had been playing his car radio loudly.

Mr Desantis, head baker at Herman’s Bakery in Dundalk, had been travelling on his regular commute in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

According to the Banner, he had made it off the bridge around 1:27am. About a minute later, at around 1.29am the bridge collapsed.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Governor Wes Moore said that a second southwest channel will be constructed to help deeper vessels coming into the area. The channel will measure 15 feet deep and will open this week.

“The work is moving”, Mr Moore said. “This mission continues”. Separately, he said, authorities would be moving this afternoon to help remove a 350 tonne piece of the bridge pending weather conditions, specifically lightening.

“The scale of this project is enormous”, he said.

Brian Chisholm, a Republican state delegate said that constituents in Anne Arundel County are reporting sightings of wreckage washing up on local beaches.

A fund for the families has now reached over $300,000, Baltimore Mayor Brandon M Scott said in an interview with CBS News.

“The human impact of this unthinkable tragedy remains our first priority — supporting the families of those we lost and addressing the effects this will have on Baltimore,” Mr Scott said on X. “And we will remain focused on the mission at hand”.

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The governor said he had the following directives: Recover the four remaining victims, clear the channel and reopen to traffic, take care of Port of Baltimore workers going without work and rebuild the Key Bridge.

The owner of the ship, Grace Ocean Private Ltd, and the manager of the ship, Synergy Marine Group, filed a petition for exoneration from or limitation of liability in US District Court in Baltimore on Monday, according to the Baltimore Banner.

The Limitation of Liability Act of 1851,  which was used to help protect the makers of the “Titanic”, allows ship owners to attempt to limit their liability to the value of the ship and its cargo at the end of the trip.

Brian Chisholm, a Republican member of the Maryland State Delegation representing Anne Arundel County, said his constituents have been finding pieces of the bridge washed up on nearby shores in the Riviera Beach communities, close to the site of the collapse. The Stoney Creek side of the beach has been particularly hard, he said.

Officials have now established a debris reporting hotline at (410) 205-6625, he added.

Two of the centres opened in Baltimore County on Monday, Baltimore Mayor Brandon M Scott announced on X. The aim of the centres is to help process emergency relief to business owners.

“We take any incursion into the restricted airspace around the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse very seriously,” Maryland Governor Wes Moore said in a news release. “Please help ensure the safety of all first responders and crews in the area by not interfering with their work.”

Federal and local law enforcement officials said they intend to enforce a no drone zone surrounding the bridge, according to a news release. Anyone who violates the restrictions could face federal charges.  

“It is harmful to the recovery operations, and it is illegal”,  William J. DelBagno, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Baltimore field office, said.

The zone extends for three nautical miles in radius from the centre of the bridge and from the surface, including 1500 feet above ground level.