Baltimore bridge collapse: Maryland governor says conditions are currently 'unsafe’ for rescue divers https://ift.tt/2Qi8EIx

Maryland Governor Wes Moore stated Saturday that conditions remain "unsafe" for rescue divers due to weather and debris following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. 

"Conditions in the water make it unsafe for rescue divers. And we're not just talking about weather and wind," Moore said during a press conference, appearing alongside Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott and first responders. "We're talking about debris, we're talking about wreckage. We're talking about pieces of the Key Bridge that are in the water."

"We are going to ensure the safety of our first responders and we are not going to compromise one for the other," Moore continued. "We are going to do both at the same time."

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"Right now, the conditions make it unsafe for rescue divers, but as soon as those conditions change, Colonel Butler has assured me that those rescue divers will be going right back in the water," Moore said.

Moore also said the Army Corps and their partners would move forward with crane operations Saturday and north sections of the bridge would be cut up and removed, calling it "a remarkably complicated process." 

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"This will eventually allow us to open up a temporary restricted channel that will help us to get more vessels in the water around the site of the collapse," Moore said. 

Moore also thanked responding agencies as well as the Biden-Harris Administration following the collapse. 

Eight construction workers, all of whom were from Central America, plummeted into the water after the Dali, a Singaporean-flagged container ship, slammed into the bridge, causing it to collapse. Two were rescued after the collapse. Divers have recovered the bodies of two others, and the other four are presumed dead. 

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The Dali was en route to Sri Lanka from Baltimore. It is owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd., and Danish shipping giant Maersk said it had chartered it.

The vessel was carrying more than 4,000 metal shipping containers, 56 of them with hazardous materials inside. Thirteen of those were destroyed, officials said. Booms were placed to control the spread of any oil that seeped into the water, and state environmental officials were also sampling the water Thursday.

Fox News' Bradford Betz contributed to this report.