Six people presumed dead after Baltimore bridge collapse

Six workers are missing and presumed dead after a massive cargo ship crashed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to collapse, authorities have said.

The US Coast Guard and Maryland State Police officials said that based on the icy temperature of the water and the length of time that had elapsed since the bridge came down there was little if any chance that the six missing could be found alive.

Colonel Roland Butler Jr, superintendent for Maryland State Police, said the search and rescue mission was transitioning to one of search and recovery.

Divers will return to the site at 6am on Wednesday when challenging overnight conditions were expected to improve, he added.

The Singapore-flagged container vessel named Dali, heading out of the harbor bound for Sri Lanka, careered into a support pylon of the Francis Scott Key Bridge over the mouth of the Patapsco River at about 1:30 a.m local time (0530 GMT).

A Mayday signal sent by the crew when they lost power allowed authorities to stop more cars from driving onto the bridge in the minutes before it collapsed.

Maryland Governor Wes Moore, said: “Those people are heroes, they saved lives.”

Rescuers pulled two survivors to safety, one of whom was hospitalised. But active search-and-rescue operations were suspended about 18 hours after the tragedy, authorities said.

The eight individuals were part of a work crew filling potholes on the road surface of the bridge when the accident occurred, officials said earlier.

There was no evidence of foul play, officials said.