After the Baltimore disaster

Debris from collapsed bridge blown up

The remaining debris was now blown up in a controlled manner.

(Bild: AFP/Maro SIRANOSIAN)

Almost seven weeks after the collapse of a large highway bridge in the US city of Baltimore, experts have blown up the remaining debris in a controlled manner. At the end of March, the container ship "Dali" rammed into a support pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing the more than 2.5-kilometer-long bridge to collapse.

However, part of the huge bridge structure had crashed onto the ship during the accident, making it impossible to remove it. This part of the bridge was blown up with explosives on Monday (local time) to free the ship underneath.

The damaged "Dali" is still at the scene of the accident, but is to be moved out of the way so that shipping traffic can return to normal. The investigation into the cause of the accident is still ongoing. The 21-strong crew of the "Dali", who come from India and Sri Lanka, are therefore still on board the ship.

Six workers died
Six men died as a result of the accident. The victims were construction workers of Latin American origin who were carrying out repairs on the bridge at the time of the accident. Over the past few weeks, recovery teams had gradually found the bodies of the missing men.

The ship's crew had made an emergency call that day before the collision with the bridge pillar, which probably saved lives - as officials on land then stopped the traffic and prevented any more cars from reaching the bridge.