Large Cargo Ship Strikes Maryland Bridge Causing Collapse

[schwartzie]

Admin note: At this point, everything is speculative - we don't know if this was an accident (not likely, from what I've seen), a strategic attack on a major port, a cyber attack, a distraction, or a false flag. Until the cause has been ascertained I'm moving this over to the conspiracy theory forum. 


Video Shows Moment Large Cargo Ship Strikes Maryland’s Key Bridge Causing Shocking Collapse

Frank Bergman
March 26, 2024 - 7:31 am




A video has emerged that shows the moment a large container ship struck Maryland’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to immediately collapse.



Rescue workers in Baltimore are working furiously in an attempt to save the lives of dozens of people who were plunged into the frigid waters of the Patapsco River when the bridge collapsed.



Authorities have declared that the collapse of the bridge is a “mass casualty event.”



Initial reports indicate that at least a dozen cars hit the 47-degree water.



Additionally, 20 or so construction workers who were working on the bridge at the time.



The workers were pouring concrete onto the bridge at the time of the crash.



At least two people were recovered from the water, Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace told the media around 6:30 am local time.



One person is in a very serious condition in a local hospital and the other person is uninjured.



Wallace said that workers are looking for “upwards of seven” people.


Firefighters responded to the scene around 1:50 am.



The first 911 calls about the collapse came in around 1:40 am.



The rescue effort incorporates Coast Guard ships, local police boats, Baltimore’s Fire Department, and volunteer fire departments from the surrounding areas.



Teams of divers are also searching the waters as the desperate hunt for survivors goes on.


The effort is hampered due to the currents in the area, Wallace said.



There appeared to be an explosion on the container ship as it collided with the bridge.



Containers from the ship and diesel have been flooding into the water.



One of the vehicles that fell into the water from the bridge was a tractor-trailer.



The ship involved is the 948-foot-long Dali, a Singaporean-flagged container.

The vessel could be seen on ship tracking websites positioned stationary under the bridge following the crash.



It left Baltimore’s Seagirt Marine Terminal at 12:24 am.



At 1:25 am, it began to slow and diverted off of its course.



The astonishing moment when the bridge, which sits 180 feet above the river, completely collapsed was caught on camera.



The video shows lights going off on board just before the crash.



The ship appears to turn toward the bridge support before attempting to change direction at the last moment.



WATCH:



Cargo Ship Appears to Turn Toward Bridge Support Before Trying to Turn Away at the Last Moment

rumble.com/v4lkzli-cargo-ship-appears-to-turn-toward-bridge-support-before-trying-to-turn-away.html

According to the ship’s owners, all crew members were accounted for with no injuries reported.



TradeWinds, a global shipping publication, added that the owners also said in a statement that: “There has been no pollution.”



The crew has remained on board the ship and is being questioned by members of the Coast Guard.



Multiple boats marked as Coast Guard search and rescue vessels were surrounding the ship around 3 am Eastern.



The Coast Guard later said that “multiple response units deployed for active search and rescue.”



Kevin Cartwright, director of communications for the Baltimore Fire Department, called the situation “a dire emergency.”



Gov. Wes Moore has declared a state of emergency in Maryland in order for local officials to access funds from the Biden administration.



The governor also said his office is in close contact with Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.



Around 30,000 vehicles use the bridge, which is named for the writer of the Star Spangled Banner, every day.



The bridge opened in 1977.



“Our focus right now is trying to rescue and recover these people,” Cartwright said.



He said it’s too early to know how many people were affected but called the collapse a “developing mass casualty event.”



Cartwright said it appears there are “some cargo or retainers hanging from the bridge.”



The situation is creating unsafe and unstable conditions, he noted.



Emergency responders are operating cautiously as a result.



Hypothermia can occur when a person’s body temperature drops below 95 degrees.



In the wake of the collapse, structural engineer and bridge designer Ian Firth told the BBC that it appeared that the ship “strayed” to the side rather than going under the center of the bridge.



“But for whatever reason it must have strayed off and has hit the support.”



“The support is a very, relatively, flimsy structure when you look at it, it’s a kind of trestle structure with individual legs,” he added.



“So, the bridge has collapsed simply as a result of this very large impact force.”



In a separate interview with CNN, Cartwright said that structural engineers will need to study the condition of the bridge prior to the incident.



“This is a very devastating incident in which these individuals have encountered so our hearts go out to each and every one of them, and we will be working valiantly throughout the early morning to address this,” he said.



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[J.J.Gibbs]

A "Black Swan Event" - General Flynn Raises Questions About Baltimore Bridge Collapse

BY TYLER DURDEN

TUESDAY, MAR 26, 2024 - 03:08 PM

Here's a live broadcast of the disaster area in Baltimore, Maryland.







* * *



Update (1508ET):



"Can we take the idea that this [Baltimore bridge collapse] was a terrorist attack off the table ... and absolutely we cannot do that," President Trump's former national security adviser (and retired lieutenant general) Michael Flynn told Alex Jones in an online interview.

Meanwhile, the White House and federal government agencies have been quick to declare this was not a terror attack.

This is a long article with charts, pictures, and is being constantly updated. See the rest here.
 

[shalom]

UNSEEN Footage of the Baltimore Bridge Collapse! Should This Ship Have Been in Maryland?

[songbird]

WAS IT AN “ACCIDENT?” Lara Logan Intel Sources Claim Baltimore Bridge Collapse On “Second busiest strategic roadway for hazardous materials” Was “absolutely brilliant strategic attack”

By Patty McMurray
Mar. 26, 2024 2:40 pm

Early this morning, the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, MD, collapsed after a cargo ship collided with a support column, causing the bridge to collapse. The Francis Scott Key Bridge is a significant commuter route carrying the Baltimore Beltway I-695 over the Patapsco River at the southern end of the Baltimore Harbor.



There are no official reports on casualties yet; however, there are unconfirmed cars in the water and reports of several construction workers unaccounted for. As of just before 5 a.m. EDT, rescue crews have not pulled anyone out of the water. A road crew was fixing potholes on the bridge at the time. Two people were rescued from the water. One was not injured; the other was seriously hurt and was hospitalized. Search efforts are underway for six others who are missing.



In the video below, the ship’s lights can be seen going off and then on again as it appears to pass by the support column. Suddenly and inexplicably, the lights on the cargo ship are turned back on as the ship appears to turn toward the support column and hits it head-on.






The power is clearly turned on as the cargo ship hits the support column on the Francis Scott Key Bridge.


The entire span of the bridge immediately collapses IN FRONT of the ship. There have been no reported injuries to any crew members on the cargo ship.







There are many questions surrounding the crash, especially regarding the alleged power outages the cargo ship was experiencing only moments before the crash. The mainstream media continues to report that the curious collision was “an accident.”



ABC News wrote- A harbor pilot and assistant onboard the cargo ship reported power issues, multiple alarms on the bridge, and loss of propulsion prior to the incident, according to a Coast Guard memo obtained by ABC News.



An unclassified Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency report said the container ship Dali “lost propulsion” as it was leaving port and warned Maryland officials of a possible collision.



Watch the cargo ship turn toward the support column in the videos shown in this tweet:

Are we to believe the ship relied solely on the lights to see where it was going? Did the ship not have a backup generator in case of a power outage? How did the ship run into a support column on one of the most critical bridges in America? Did the ship not have GPS?



And most importantly, was this really an accident? Watch the video shared by DC Draino on Instagram showing the crash The video’s been sped up 8X’s its normal speed:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4_TlFwOJcQ

A post shared by Rogan O’Handley (@dc_draino)



Here is another video of the ship’s collision with the support column:



Cargo Ship Lost Its Lights and Steered into Bridge Supports Before Destroying Baltimore Bridge

rumble.com/v4lmy78-cargo-ship-lost-its-lights-and-steered-into-bridge-supports-before-destroyi.html

Independent journalist Lara Logan’s report on the “accident” is very different from the reports in the mainstream media.



Here’s what Logan had to say about the cargo ship’s “accident” with the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore:



Multiple intel sources: The Baltimore bridge collapse was an “absolutely brilliant strategic attack” on US critical infrastructure – most likely cyber – & our intel agencies know it. In information warfare terms, they just divided the US along the Mason-Dixon line, exactly like the Civil War.



The second busiest strategic roadway in the nation for hazardous material is now down for 4-5 years – which is how long they say it will take to recover. Bridge was built specifically to move hazardous material – fuel, diesel, propane gas, nitrogen, highly flammable materials, chemicals, and oversized cargo that cannot fit in the tunnels – that supply chain now crippled.



Make no mistake: this was an extraordinary attack in terms of planning, timing & execution.



The two critical components on that bridge are the two load-bearing pylons on each end, closest to the shore. They are bigger, thicker and deeper than anything else. These are the anchor points and they knew that hitting either one one of them would be a fatal wound to the integrity of the bridge.



Half a mile of bridge went in the river – likely you will have to build a new one. Also caused so much damage to the structural integrity of the bottom concrete part that you cannot see & won’t know until they take the wreckage apart. Structural destruction likely absolute.



Attack perfectly targeted.



“They have figured out how to bring us down. As long as you stay away from the teeth of the US military, you can pick the US apart. We are arrogant and ignorant – lethal combination. Obama said they would fundamentally change America and they did. We are in a free-fall ride on a roller coaster right now – no brakes – just picking up speed.”



The footage shows the cargo ship never got in the approach lane in the channel. You have to be in the channel before you get into that turn. Location was precise/deliberate: chose a bend in the river where you have to slow down and commit yourself – once you are committed in that area there is not enough room to maneuver.



Should have had a harbor pilot to pilot the boat. You are not supposed to traverse any obstacles without the harbor pilot.



They chose a full moon so they would have maximum tidal shift – rise and fall. Brisk flow in that river on a normal day & have had a lot of rain recently so water was already moving along at a good pace.



Hit it with enough kinetic energy to knock the load-bearing pylon out from under the highway – which fatally weakens the span and then 50 percent of the bridge fell into the water.



All these factors when you look at it – this is how you teach people how to do this type of attack and there are so few people left in the system who know this. We have a Junior varsity team on the field.



Tremendous navigational obstruction. Huge logistical nightmare to clean this up. Number of dead is tragic but not the whole measure of the attack.



That kind-of bridge constantly under repair – always at night because there is so much traffic and they cannot obstruct that during the day. So concern is for repair guys who were on foot (out of their vehicles) working who may now be in the water – 48 degrees at most at this time of year.



When you choke off Baltimore you have cut the main north-south hazardous corridor (I95) in half. Now has to go around the city – or go somewhere else.



To move some of that cargo through the tunnel you may be able to get a permit but those are slow to get and require an escort system that is expensive and has to be done at night.



For every $100 dollars that goes into the city, $12 comes from shipping. Believe this will cripple the city of Baltimore at a time when they do not have the resources to recover.

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[ExquisiteGerbil]

Was the Bridge Collapse Deliberate? 

[ExquisiteGerbil]

Baltimore Bridge Collapse: Body Discovered as Search for Six Missing Workers Called Off

PAUL BOIS
26 Mar 2024

A body has been discovered in the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge as the U.S. Coast Guard has called off the search for the six missing construction workers.



“We are hearing one body was found,” Baltimore City Council Member Phylicia Porter said on CNN.



No details have been released about the body or the identity of the person discovered.



According to Daily Mail, “five vehicles are currently submerged in the river, with six construction workers unaccounted for who had been working on the bridge when it went down.”



On Tuesday night, authorities said that the search for the missing construction workers had been called off. Per the New York Times:



The Coast Guard ended its search late Tuesday for six construction workers who were on a bridge in Baltimore when it was rammed by a cargo ship and collapsed into the Patapsco River.



The admiral and Col. Roland L. Butler of the Maryland State Police described harrowing conditions for rescuers, including changing currents and dangerous debris. Colonel Butler said divers would attempt to return to the water at 6 a.m. Wednesday to try to recover the bodies.



Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath said at a news conference after dark that “we do not believe we are going to find any of these individuals still alive.”



“We do not know where they are, but we intend to give it our best effort to help these families find closure,” said Colonel Butler.



Related: Search for Survivors Continues After Collapse of Bridge Struck by Cargo Ship (Video at link below)


Bill Ferguson via Storyful



As Breitbart News reported, the massive Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed in the dark of night when a large cargo ship reportedly lost control and rammed into its support system.



“A four-lane bridge carrying the Interstate-695 over the mouth of Baltimore harbour collapsed in the early hours of Tuesday morning, around 0130 EST (0530GMT). Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott has said he is aware of an ‘incident at the Key Bridge’ and that emergency services are on scene,” the report noted.



President Joe Biden has already said that the government will cover the entirety of the costs for cleaning up the aftermath and rebuilding the bridge.



“It’s my intention that we will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge. I expect the Congress to support my effort,” Biden said in a White House press conference. “It’s gonna take some time. And the people of Baltimore can count on us, though, to stick with that every step of the way until the port is reopened and the bridge is rebuilt. We’re not leaving until this job is done.”



When asked if the company behind the ship will pay for the repairs, the president said, “We’re going to pay to get the bridge rebuilt and open.”

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[PrisonerOfHope]

Baltimore Bridge collapse wasn't about the bridge nor the ship

[Midnight]

Baltimore Bridge Collapse Discussion

[Midnight]

The Baltimore Bridge Collapse Is Even More Devastating Than It Seems - It's an 'Economic Nuke Strike'



By Allison Anton

March 26, 2024 at 9:07am


By now, most people have seen the shocking images of the devastating collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, that happened on Tuesday morning.



Indeed, it would be hard to forget the sight of the cargo ship hitting the 1.6 mile bridge, with the bridge almost instantly crumbling on impact into the Patapsco River.



What caused the cargo ship to ram into the bridge or what was faulty in the construction of the bridge to make it collapse so readily has not yet been discovered.



However, as many users on the social media platform X have noted, the ramifications of this disaster will be devastating for Baltimore’s infrastructure.



User Matt Bracken was among the first to point this out.

Sharing a map of the port of Baltimore, circling the location of the bridge, as well as the other main highways, Bracken noted, “All of the shipping north of the bridge is now trapped in place. No other shipping can get in. The tunnel shown has height and hazardous cargo restrictions, it can’t take the heavy trucking traffic that used the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which took YEARS to build back in the 1970s.”



Considering that the Port of Baltimore is the main port for both Baltimore and Washington, D.C., this accident, as Bracken said, was a “MAJOR infrastructure hit.”


Other users shared Bracken’s original post, with combat correspondent Michael Yon calling it an “Economic Nuke Strike” and history professor and Maritime historian Sal Mercogliano, pointing out, “This closes the port of Baltimore and shuts down any traffic into or out of it.”

Now, the greatest tragedy of this disaster was, of course, the loss of human life.



As CNN reported, at least six people who were part of a construction crew working on the bridge are still missing and five vehicles have been seen underwater using sonar technology, three of which are thought to be passenger vehicles.



Two members of the construction crew were rescued from the water. One was uninjured, and one was taken to a trauma center in “very serious condition.”



But, the good folks of X were right to point out the economic ramifications this collapse of essential infrastructure will have for Baltimore and the surrounding area.



As one user explained, “It will be near impossible to quickly clear out debris to keep the harbor working.”

Not to mention that the entire harbor was the second busiest in the mid-Atlantic — and now, thanks to this accident, it has been rendered completely inaccessible.



To say nothing of the enormous traffic problems now created by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.



Were the conspiracy theorists on X and elsewhere on to something when they suggested that this was perhaps a deliberate act of sabotage on the part of China or another U.S. adversary?



As of right now, probably not.



If someone were to plan an attack on our infrastructure, however, it very well might have looked like what we saw on Tuesday morning in Baltimore.

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[Midnight]

'DEI' to Blame for Baltimore Key Bridge Tragedy, According to Utah Republican



By Jack Davis

March 26, 2024 at 5:36pm


A Republican candidate for governor of Utah has linked diversity, equity, and inclusion to the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.



The bridge collapsed early Tuesday after the cargo ship Dali drifted into a bridge support.



Among the reactions that looked past the immediate cause, state Rep. Phil Lyman appeared to indicate that the makeup of the commissioners for the Port of Baltimore was a factor in the incident.



Lyman is challenging Gov. Spencer Cox for the Republican nomination, according to KSL-TV.



“This is what happens when you have Governors who prioritize diversity over the wellbeing and security of citizens,” Lyman said in a post on X.

In another post he wrote, “DEI = DIE.” Lyman did not elaborate.


Lyman shared a post from the Young Conservative Federation, which in a post on X said commissioner Karenthia A. Barber, who is black, “knows nothing about Ports, but she is a ‘diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) auditor and consultant.'”



The group, in a separate post, called commissioner Sandy A. Roberts, who is also black, “an attorney who, at the time of his appointment, ‘generally knew some marine law.'”



Lyman was not alone in linking DEI to the collapse.



“DEI did this,” former Florida Republican state Rep. Anthony Sabatini posted on X.

According to WJZ-TV, the last inspection of the bridge took place in May 2022. At the time, the bridge scored a grade of six out of nine, which is passing but is considered “fair.”



The bridge was rated “fair” since 2008.

The 2022 report identified a concern with a reinforced concrete column. It could not be learned Tuesday if the column was the one struck early Tuesday.



That column was downgraded from a Health Index of 77.8 in the prior report to 64.9.


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[shalom]

This guy may have nailed it:

The Truth About the Baltimore Bridge Collapse

[Honoria]

Prominent Bridge Engineer Says He's 'Not Surprised' About How Baltimore Bridge Collapsed



By Adelle Nazarian

March 26, 2024 at 4:26pm


A renowned British structural engineer specializing in bridge design says he was “not surprised” at the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge after a container ship named Dali heading to Sri Lanka, crashed into it and caused it to fall into the Patapsco River early Tuesday morning.

After analyzing video of the bridge’s collapse, Ian Firth observed what seemed to be two defensive barriers in the water adjacent to the bridge, which are designed to shield maritime infrastructure from vessel impacts and are referred to as “dolphins,” the Washington Post reported.



Firth pointed out that because the Dali approached the Key Bridge “at an angle,” it rendered these protective measures ineffective in preventing the collision that resulted in the bridge’s collapse.



He said had the Dali been traveling straight on instead of at an angle, it likely would have hit the protective objects around the bridge, and he noted that if there were more vessel-protection objects around the bridge, instead of just two, the Key Bridge might still be standing.

America has suffered from infrastructure issues for quite some time and that the Key Bridge’s collapse could have been prevented is a strong indicator of this problem.


The bridge, which was completed in 1977, was named after Francis Scott Key, the amateur poet who wrote the American national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”



Its 47th anniversary was celebrated just three days before Tuesday’s collapse.



The Key Bridge spanned 1.6 miles. Prior to its demise, the Key Bridge was the second longest continuous-truss bridge span in the United States and the third longest in the world, according to the American Civil Engineering Society.



The bridge’s collapse led to some conspiracy theories being spread online, suggesting there was dynamite planted on the bridge, which social media influencer Ian Miles Cheong shut down by tongue-in-cheek suggesting P. Diddy orchestrated the event to distract the public from his legal issues.

The Independent in the U.K. reported the recovery of at least body from the Patapsco River following the collapse of the bridge.



Rescuers were also able to pull out two survivors, one of whom was hospitalized.



Efforts continue as search teams look for an additional six individuals, given that eight were reported to be working on the bridge at the time of the incident.



USA Today reported that the members of the Dali container ship had communicated that they are safe and were awaiting rescue.



This update came from a seafarers’ chaplain, Andrew Middleton, who accompanied them on a shopping trip on to Walmart on Sunday, where they went to purchase personal necessities and snacks in preparation for what would turn into an ominous journey.

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[ExquisiteGerbil]

Looks like Nana is back! Today she had only this very brief report on the bridge collapse. 


NOTHING TO SEE HERE FOLKS! MOVE ALONG!

[ExquisiteGerbil]

Bodies found as recovery efforts continue after Maryland bridge collapse

[Midnight]

UPDATE: DHS and Coast Guard Say Cargo Ship that Struck Francis Scott Key Bridge Was Transporting 1.8M Gallons of Fuel and 56 Containers with Hazardous Materials

By Jordan Conradson
Mar. 27, 2024 4:40 pm

Early Tuesday morning, the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, MD, collapsed after a cargo ship collided with a support column, causing the bridge to collapse. The Francis Scott Key Bridge is a significant commuter route carrying the Baltimore Beltway I-695 over the Patapsco River at the southern end of the Baltimore Harbor, and it’s the state’s number one thoroughfare for hazardous materials, which are not allowed to go through the underwater roadway tunnels in Baltimore.



Local agencies are now rerouting vehicles transporting hazardous materials through west Baltimore:

New reports state that as many as 1.8 million gallons of fuel and other hazardous materials may have spilled into the water. Authorities have suspended their search-and-rescue mission for the six bridge workers who fell into the water and are now presumed dead.



ABC News reports,



Federal officials are monitoring about 1.8 million gallons of fuel inside the container ship Dali for its “spill potential,” according to an unclassified memo from the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. But a U.S. official familiar with the matter told CNN “lots would have to go wrong” for that amount of fuel to spill.



The Department of Homeland Security has also deemed the water near the crash site unsafe for divers, according to a memo obtained by ABC News.



A search-and-rescue effort for six people believed to have fallen from the collapsing bridge into the frigid waters of the Patapsco River below has been suspended and will shift to a recovery mission, officials said.



An elite Coast Guard team is examining 13 damaged containers, “some with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] and/or hazardous materials [HAZMAT] contents,” the CISA memo said. The team is also analyzing the ship’s manifest to determine what was on board and if any materials could pose a health risk, the source said.



“There is minor sheening on-scene. Booming has been ordered and is staged but will not be placed until search and rescue and dive operations are complete,” the document said. “The amount of potential oil spill is 1.8M gallons of marine grade diesel.”



More from Fox:



The Singapore-flagged cargo ship that struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing its collapse, was transporting containers with hazardous materials, the U.S. Coast Guard said.



Vice Admiral Peter Gautier said during the White House press briefing that of the 4700 containers on board the Dali, 56 contain hazardous materials and two are missing overboard. The ones that are in the water do not contain hazardous materials, he told reporters.



“There is no threat to the public from the hazardous materials on board,” Gautier said.



A specialized hazmat team went aboard the ship to inspect the cargo.



National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy announced on Wednesday that the data recorder known as the “black box’ has been recovered from the DALI cargo ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key bridge early Tuesday morning.



The black box is expected to reveal a timeline for the DALI and ultimately lead to what caused the ship to lose its power.


link

[Midnight]

NTSB Releases Data on DALI’s Black Box, Reveals No CCTV Footage Found, Sensors Cut Off and Turned Backed On, Voice Recorder Disrupted By Background Noise

By Anthony Scott
Mar. 27, 2024 9:35 pm


As The Gateway Pundit reported earlier the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy announced the voyage data recorder known as the “black box’ was recovered from the DALI cargo ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key bridge early Tuesday morning.



On Tuesday evening, Homendy and NTSB investigator Marcel Muise held a press conference to reveal the data on the DALI’s black box, also known as the Voyage Data Recorder (VDR).



NTSB investigator Marcel Muise revealed there were about six hours of VDR on data and included a timeline of midnight to 6 am.



Before revealing the data on the VDR, Muise warned that the quality of the voice recording and radio data was hard to comprehend due to background noise.



Muise then shared that the “VDR sensor data ceased recording. The VDR audio continued to record using the redundant power source.”



“VDR resumed recording sensor data, and during this time, steering commands and rutter orders were recorded on the audio,” added Muise.



Muise continued, “The ship’s pilot made a very high-frequency radio call for tugs in the vicinity to assist. About this time, the pilot dispatcher phoned the Maryland Transportation Authority duty officer regarding the blackout.”



He concluded his statement by adding that “The ship’s speed over ground was recorded at just under 7 knots. From this moment to approximately 1:29:33, the VDR audio recorded sounds consistent with the collision of the bridge.”



WATCH:

Before the content on the black box was revealed, Homendy noted a group of operations and engineering groups boarded the DALI to do a walk-through of the ship’s bridge and engine room to find any electronic recorders, cameras, or CCTV footage but could not find any.



WATCH:

Per The Washington Post:



The alarms first sounded on the Dali around 1:24 a.m. Tuesday, an NTSB official said in a Wednesday evening news conference, citing preliminary information from the container ship’s voice data recorder.



About a minute and a half later, the ship’s pilot used a high-frequency radio to request assistance, helping to alert the on-duty Maryland Transportation Authority officer. The pilot called for “tugs in the vicinity,” which help vessels leave the port and get into its main channel. Before the Dali hit the bridge, it had no tugs. Thirty seconds later, the pilot ordered the ship’s anchor to be dropped and gave “additional steering commands,” said Marcel Muise, the lead investigator.



At 1:27 a.m., the pilot reported that the Dali had lost all power and was approaching the bridge, Muise said. At the time, there were two Maryland Transportation Authority units at the scene because of the ongoing construction, and those units shut down all lanes of traffic on the bridge, according to Muise.

He said the voice data recorder captured “sounds consistent with the collision” at 1:29 a.m. Around this time, the lights on the Key Bridge also went out.



Watch the entire press conference below:



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[maybetoday]

Split-Second Decision by Hero Police Officers Saved 'Numerous Lives' in Baltimore Bridge Disaster



By Rachel M. Emmanuel

March 27, 2024 at 10:33am


A rogue cop is quick to make the news, causing pundits to opine for hours, making generalizations about the entire force.



But, this rarely happens when hero cops save lives and families — although such events happen every day.



The brave officers of police departments around our country put their lives on the line every day to save others, and it’s important to highlight their sacrificial work, without which the country would be paralyzed.



In the early hours of Tuesday, around 1:30 a.m., a massive 984-foot Singapore-based container ship, Dali, experienced a complete power blackout while traveling outbound from the Port of Baltimore. This caused the ship to lose propulsion and steering control, according to CNN.



As the powerless Dali drifted off course towards the Francis Scott Key Bridge, the crew attempted emergency measures but could not regain control, eventually striking one of the pillars of the bridge.



A person living in Dundalk, about a mile away from the bridge, said it felt and sounded like an earthquake or plane crash, the New York Post reported.



The impact from the massive cargo vessel caused the entire 1.6-mile-long bridge to catastrophically collapse.



According to The Baltimore Banner, the Dali sent a distress signal as it began to lose power, which was picked up by the Coast Guard.



Maryland Transportation Authority Police then stepped in to contain the situation.



The officers were monitoring the stricken container ship Dali as it experienced a power failure and drifted disastrously off course towards the Key Bridge.



At 1:27 a.m., a call came over the dispatch radio that the Singapore-flagged Dali cargo vessel had lost steering and was on a collision course with the bridge. “There’s a ship approaching that just lost their steering. So until they get that under control we gotta stop all traffic,” the dispatch officer stated over the radio.



A second officer quickly moved into position on the south end and successfully stopped northbound traffic.



Seconds ticked by as the officers verified the bridge was closed to vehicles. However, they were unaware that a construction crew was operating on the bridge deck that night, repairing potholes to avoid lane closures during daylight hours.



At approximately 1:28 a.m., one of the officers said, “Is there a crew working on the bridge right now?”



“Just make sure no one’s on the bridge right now. … If there’s a crew up there, you might want to notify whoever the foreman is to see if we can get them off the bridge temporarily,” he added.



Another officer offered to ride up and tell the workers, but there was no time.



A few seconds later, the powerless Dali rammed into the bridge pylon, blasting with the force of 10 million pounds based on expert estimates. Within 20 seconds, the entire bridge collapsed into the river below.



“The whole bridge just fell down. Start, start, whoever, everybody — the whole bridge just collapsed,” one officer shouted over the radio in the chaotic moments after impact.



Eight construction workers who were on the bridge repairing potholes were thrown into the Patapsco River when it crumbled.



Two workers were rescued, and one was hospitalized in serious condition.



According to a first responder, the other worker just “brushed his clothes off and wanted to see his family. He was shaken up a little bit but nothing major. I guess the good Lord was on his side,” the Post reported.



However, the six other workers from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras are missing and presumed dead as of Tuesday evening, CNN reported.



The amount of time between the first call and the collapse was a mere 90 seconds, according to the Post.



The Maryland Gov. Wes Moore credited the quick work of the two police officers in blocking off access and stopping traffic from entering the bridge with saving “numerous lives.”

In 2020, the Baltimore City Council slashed $22.4 million from their police budget, including overtime pay, in the wake of the death of George Floyd. While the drastic cuts were being made, crowds of protesters stood outside City Hall demanding that the entire police force be defunded altogether, according to WYPR.



According to WBFF, the current number of police at the Baltimore Police Department is dangerously low, with as few as three police officers for more than 61,000 residents.



This is no doubt, at least in part, due to the anti-police stance of many elected leaders and political organizations.



The whats and whys of this devastating event will be debated for a long time.



What cannot be denied is that in the time of crisis, it wasn’t the politicians or the social workers who rushed into the line of danger to save lives, regardless of race or color — it was two courageous police officers.



But there will be no crowds standing outside City Hall demanding that they be rewarded for their good work.

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[Midnight]

Lara Logan Provides Comprehensive Baltimore Update: Experts in Behavioral Analytics, Counter-Terrorism, and National Security Analyze Recent Incident

By Jim Hᴏft
Mar. 28, 2024 8:15 am


In the aftermath of the catastrophic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge early Tuesday morning, questions are being raised about the nature of the incident.



The bridge, a crucial artery for the Baltimore Beltway I-695, saw a section plummet into the Patapsco River after a cargo ship collided with one of its support columns.



Seasoned investigative journalist Lara Logan, in a statement on Tuesday, alleged that the incident was not an accident but rather a “strategic attack.” This claim gained further attention as she joined Steve Bannon on The War Room to discuss the implications of the bridge collapse.



“You say there may be something. Here’s the other thing that’s concerning me. Why do they run to the mic? You had McCabe on this morning at sunrise on CNN saying, ‘It’s not terrorism. It’s not terrorism. It’s not… It might not be terrorism. But why do you come to the mic Right away, we need facts, we need empirical evidence, we need an investigation. What is your investigation telling you?” Bannon asked.



Lara Logan responded with her own pressing question, “Why are you coming to the mic telling the country that it’s not terrorism when your own intelligence agencies are telling you it is?”



She continued to explain that her sources, a mix of active duty and retired personnel from various agencies, believe the bridge collapse was a cyber attack targeting a major supply chain corridor.



By Thursday, Logan provided an update, referencing analyses from experts in various fields including behavioral analytics, counter-terrorism, and national security. These specialists offered a two-pronged theory on the bridge collapse.



Lara Logan wrote on X:



BALTIMORE UPDATE: Analysis from specialists in predictive behavioral analytics, counter-terrorism, hazardous materials, maritime attacks, cyber, national security & intel – this is their view:



Based on their training & experience, they believe this was two types of operation:



1) “Penetration testing” where they are probing/testing to identify vulnerabilities in our responses and defences,



AND



2) a shaping operation to set the conditions and prepare the battlefield for a potential future event.



The concern is that other critical infrastructure disruptions/hits recently that appeared to be independent, isolated events, MAY not be. For example, the Ohio chemical disaster, train derailments, fires at food processing plants etc when taken in isolation do not appear to be that significant but when taken together, could indicate shaping or stacking operations that are paving the way for a bigger event where they do any number of these types of operations together. That could potentially paralyze the U.S..



So the critical question our government should be answering right now is this:



“When will they trigger a multiple episode that causes the paralysis effect?”



Some of the indicators are how many incidents have occurred within “a relatively short timeline” & what they see as the departure from what is “normal”.



They believe those in charge will make sure the investigation into the bridge crash “goes nowhere quick”.



And one of the goals here is to give the public mental anesthesia while they test this, using train derailments or exposure to chemicals in Ohio where they told everyone to shelter indoors – to ask questions like: Did they comply? Is this going to successfully deceive & cause behavioural change?



They use the media to create the assumptive narrative – do not want the facts analyzed because they do not want people processing the truth. Truth naturally leads to questions they do not want asked.



But it would be “foolish and naive at the expense of national security not to question the Government narrative on the Baltimore bridge crash given the level of corruption in spheres of power and influence in this country today”.



With many years of experience in “spoofing” – the tactic used in cyber warfare to hack into someones’s system and deceive in order to achieve a certain outcome – they recognized multiple indicators watching the video that tell them the GPS signal was likely hacked. It would have led them to believe they were not as close to the bridge as they were and may be why in the video you see the crazy lean to port and then to hard starboard as they realized they were not on course in spite of the GPS indicating they were.



In information warfare terms, here are some of the tactics they see being used now that many of you will recognize:



1) Engineered complexity – where they throw in nonsensical variables (information) to distract. This is designed to keep you from serially processing multiple channels & give you processing overload that prevents you from toggling different channels of information.



IE: they create processing decoys to distract you from truth.



2) They are trying to reframe the issue by focusing on details that do not matter. They do this by throwing in a variable that is not relevant to the main equation.



3) Common sense, skepticism and intelligence are huge “overlays” that get in the way of manipulating human behavior so they analyze you to learn how to create channel overload as you toggle/handle different channels of information such as the speed of the boat, temperature of the water etc.



3) They need to load you up with enough variance to create channel overload so you create an error that they can use to discredit you. One way is to create doubt in yourself. Most effective because you make yourself less efficient when your brain is processing self-doubt. And it will propogate into the future.



“Population so much easier to dupe today than 20 years ago.”



The incident at the Francis Scott Key Bridge is no longer viewed solely as a tragic accident but rather as a potential harbinger of more complex threats facing the United States today.


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[PurplePuppy]

Ship Company Owners Deny Fault in Baltimore Key Bridge Collapse in Latest Filing in Federal Court

By Anthony Scott
Apr. 2, 2024 2:20 pm



The owner of the Dali ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore last week has filed a court filing in U.S. Federal Court, claiming no responsibility for the Key bridge’s collapse.



In a court petition, Dali’s owner, Grace Ocean Private Limited, “denied any fault or neglect of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.”



Grace Ocean Private Limited and Dali’s ship manager, Synergy Marine Pte Ltd, requested in the petition to be exonerated from all liability for the Key bridge’s collapse.



A portion of the filing obtained by Independent states, “The [bridge collapse] was not due to any fault, neglect, or want of care on the part of [ship owner & operator], the Vessel, or any persons or entities for whose acts [ship owner & operator] may be responsible.”



The filing also requests the court to cap any liability at $43.6 million.

Per The New York Post:



The owners and manager of the cargo ship that crashed into a Baltimore bridge last week and sent its metal frame tumbling into the river below have denied responsibility, as they tried to argue that they shouldn’t be held liable for amounts larger than the new value of the damaged vessel.



Singapore-based Grace Ocean Private Ltd., the owner of the cargo ship Dali, and Synergy Marine Pte Ltd., the ship’s manager, filed a petition in federal court Monday denying any fault or neglect, according to the Baltimore Banner.



“The [bridge collapse] was not due to any fault, neglect, or want of care on the part of Petitioners, the Vessel, or any persons or entities for whose acts Petitioners may be held responsible,” the “limitation of liability” petition filed in the US District Court of Baltimore says, the Banner reports.



“Alternatively, if any such faults caused or contributed to the [bridge collapse], or to any loss or damage arising out of the Casualty, which is denied, such faults were occasioned and occurred without Petitioners’ privity or knowledge.”



LOOK:

Over $60 million has already been approved by the Biden administration to remove debris from where the Baltimore Port bridge collapsed.

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