"Baltimore mayor rips right-wing 'DEI mayor' attacks. Right-wingers smear Brandon Scott, who was elected with over 70%, as a diversity hire after Key Bridge collapse."
On a more serious note, it is sort of annoying that the discourse on the bridge collapse is turning so heavily on the “badly maintained infrastructure” or “they shouldn’t have cut corners on the bridge,” narrative. Since that bridge was built container ships have grown in size by about 1500%—driven partly by demand growth which was maybe foreseeable in 1977, but also by changing technology and geopolitical developments that definitely weren’t. At the time the bridge was constructed, the balance of global trade was such that most of the most lucrative routes had to travel through the Panama Canal. There just wasn’t demand for ships that were wider than the canal (the so-called Panamax) because they would be limited to a few less lucrative routes that didn’t see heavy enough usage for you to profitably operate an enormous container ship on them. But the rise of Asia as the global manufacturing hub for the kind of durable dry goods you use container ships for starting in the late 80s and accelerating under free trade agreements in the 90s suddenly made these kinds of ships very lucrative and set off an arms race among global shipping lines (particularly Maersk, the line that had chartered the Dali at the time of the crash) The vast majority of the growth in the size of container ships came roughly 30 years after the bridge was completed in other words. They just couldn’t have known getting hit by something the size of the Dali was even remotely in the realm of possibility, and it would have been an insane level of over engineering for them to build it to survive this kind of a crash.
Took the little foot path & went under the Tillicum Narrows bridge. I didn't stay there long because it reeked of urine & poop. I cleaned up some litter from area & disposed the trash left behind, into a park garbage bin.
The Fire Department says it is responding to a mass casualty incident. At least 20 people are believed to be in the water along with multiple vehicles. The bridge was hit by a #Singapore-flagged #container ship.
News about the #Baltimore#FrancisScottKeyBridge#Bridge#BridgeCollapse that happed at 1:30 AM EST from the BBC, updated as news comes in. So far, 2 people rescued, 6 still missing, they were construction workers fixing potholes. One is in the hospital. The ship issued a Mayday before the collision, which stopped cars from coming on the bridge and saved lives. The cargo vessel lost power just before collision. FBI says it was not a terrorist attack. https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-us-canada-68663071
A major bridge in #Baltimore collapsed after being hit by a #freighter at about 1:30AM Tuesday, sending at least 8 people from a construction crew into the water as a large section of the #bridge crashed into the #PatapscoRiver. The container ship, traveling at a relatively rapid speed of about 8 knots, lost power in the moments before it struck the bridge, #Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) said at a news conference.
Rescue workers in Baltimore, Md., are searching for as many as seven people after a major bridge in the city's port was struck by a container ship early Tuesday morning.
CNN reports: "Two people have been saved from the water so far."
‘No choice’: Ukraine eyes Kerch bridge in Crimea for drone attack (www.theguardian.com)
Third attack on Kerch bridge between Russia and occupied Crimea ‘inevitable’, say Ukraine’s military intelligence