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NTSB says police had 90 seconds to stop traffic, get people off Key Bridge before it collapsed
BALTIMORE – The National Transportation Safety Board provided a broader look Wednesday night into its investigation of the cargo ship hitting Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing its collapse.
Officials said police had just 90 seconds early Tuesday from when they received distress calls to cut the bridge off to traffic and to try to get people off.
A police officer who was already in the area patrolling because of the work on the bridge tried to get construction workers off before it was too late, according to officials.
Twenty-one members and two pilots were onboard DALI, a 948-foot vessel managed by Synergy Marine Group, a Singapore-based company with over 660 ships under management around the world, according to its website.
The vessel had 56 containers — 764 tons – of corrosive, flammable material and batteries, according to NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy, adding that some of the containers were breached. One of the hazardous materials was sheen, which is used in paint, that has leaked into the Patapsco River.
“That’s 764 tons of hazardous materials, mostly corrosive, flammables, Class 8 hazardous materials, which includes lithium-ion batteries,” Homendy said. “Some of those containers were breached.”
NTSB says DALI left the terminal at the Port of Baltimore around 12:39 a.m. and by 1:24 a.m., alarms started going off that something was wrong.
NTSB investigators onboard the Dali. #KeyBridgeCollapse @wjz pic.twitter.com/c6NLbJMp27
— Mike Hellgren (@HellgrenWJZ) March 28, 2024
At 1:27 a.m., the pilot ordered crews to drop the anchor and called for tugs, telling officials the boat lost power and was headed toward the bridge.
And just two minutes later, the massive cargo ship crashed into the bridge at 8 mph, sending eight construction workers who were filling potholes plunging into the cold water along with Baltimore’s iconic bridge. Officials said they were from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
Two people were rescued soon after the collapse — one was uninjured and other was hospitalized and later released.
Divers recovered two bodies from a pickup truck Wednesday morning.
Officials said the search for the remaining four has moved from a recovery mission to a salvage effort because they believe vehicles are encased in the bridge debris and divers can’t operate around the debris.
The bridge itself “is fractural critical,” Homendy said. “What that means is if a member fails that would likely cause a portion of or the entire bridge to collapse; there’s no redundancy.”
The collapse has halted the flow of ships in and out of Baltimore’s port and cut off nearly every dock in Baltimore from the global shipping industry.
“The national economy and the global economy depends on the Port of Baltimore,” Gov. Wes Moore said at a news conference early Wednesday evening.
Moore said the state has submitted a request asking for federal funds to assist in rebuilding the bridge, but the cost and timeline is still unknown.
“The task in front of us, it will be real, it will be daunting, but our resolve is unshaken,” Moore said.
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
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A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
CBS Philadelphia
Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.