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Yellow | Baltimore Bridge Collapse .....

Ok , so how does a ship not see the bridge or was it on purpose ?And was the Captain a Ex-Swift Driver ? And hope no semi trucks was on the bridge ?
 
wongway said:
Ok , so how does a ship not see the bridge or was it on purpose ?And was the Captain a Ex-Swift Driver ? And hope no semi trucks was on the bridge ?
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I would almost suspect the ship may have lost power/control since it was under command of harbor pilot(s) at the time. Terrible in any event. Drove over that bridge many times in the past when avoiding the tunnels with hazmat load.
 
Stimpy said:
Reports are saying that the lights were flickering.... Harbor pilot was on board..... Not sure they had time to do anything.... Like drop anchor?

Sad.... My heart goes out to those affected by this tragedy.
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Yes, you can see in the video of the accident it looks like the ship's lights flickered before the impact. Just like a freight train, a ship takes a very long time to stop.
 
Reports are coming out that the shipā€™s crew had notified authorities they had lost power before striking the bridge support and that officials on the ground raced to stop cars from going over the bridge once the mayday call was made. Noticed in the crash video two tractor-trailers going over the bridge from right to left not long before the collapse. Certainly lucky drivers for sure.
 
Triplex said:
Yes, you can see in the video of the accident it looks like the ship's lights flickered before the impact. Just like a freight train, a ship takes a very long time to stop.
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I too have watched the surveillance video. Yes, it appears that the ship lost power TWICE in a very short span of time, in conjunction with a very thick plume of black smoke coming from the main stack. The second "lights out" recovered just before it struck the bridge support from what I could see.
Thank goodness this was at 01:30 and not at 07:00. The casualty count would have been much, much worse. It's already bad.
 
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Question is what caused the power supply lost ?? Was it a terrorist act with all the wars & terrorist attacks going on in the world right now ??
 
wongway said:
Question is what caused the power supply lost ?? Was it a terrorist act with all the wars & terrorist attacks going on in the world right now ??
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First indications are an electro-mechanical malfunction. It is now known (as Triplex already stated) that there was a "Mayday" call from the ship shortly before the collision, and that some authority was able to stop vehicles from entering the bridge, saving numerous lives. Last I heard about an hour ago, the Baltimore Fire and other rescue personnel think they are looking for only six people who were part of a construction crew working on the bridge. They have recovered two people as of that time; one with severe injuries and the other one cold and wet, but otherwise OK. However, these numbers are absolutely subject to change. They have good sonar equipment and underwater drones deployed, so a) they're going to find any vehicles that took the plunge, and b) hopefully find the people associated with any such vehicles. Granted, at this point, anybody found in the water is not likely to be alive. It would make everybody's day if we learned that anybody pitched into the water was able to swim to safety, but that's not very likely.
 
Triplex said:
Reports are coming out that the shipā€™s crew had notified authorities they had lost power before striking the bridge support and that officials on the ground raced to stop cars from going over the bridge once the mayday call was made. Noticed in the crash video two tractor-trailers going over the bridge from right to left not long before the collapse. Certainly lucky drivers for sure.
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This reminds me of the 2002 Arkanss River bridge collapse on I 40 at Weber's Falls Ok. The pilot of the tug passed out, the barges struck a support pier. 14 people died & 11 were injured. It happened early on a Sunday morning when traffic was light otherwise the casualities could have been much worse. There was a fishing tournament on the river that weekend. Fishermen pulled several people out. One of the first in was a ABF tractor/pups. The driver barely survived, had the fishermen not been there he said he have died. The tractor was an almost new Mack, one trailer, also new was a UPack load with a family's household goods. I have wondered about how the company explained to the family that their possessions were on the bottom of the Arkansas River.
There is a good article about the tragic accident on Wikipedia.
 
Triplex said:
I would almost suspect the ship may have lost power/control since it was under command of harbor pilot(s) at the time. Terrible in any event. Drove over that bridge many times in the past when avoiding the tunnels with hazmat load.
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The news said they did lose power.
I've never crossed that bridge but once.
Although the pilot is in command, the captain is still responsible.
A ship hit a dredge while bringing in cranes to Wilmington a few years ago.
They said it was the captain's responsibility although a pilot was in command.
 
wongway said:
Question is what caused the power supply lost ?? Was it a terrorist act with all the wars & terrorist attacks going on in the world right now ??
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Anything made by man - electrical, mechanical, etc. - can possibly fail at some point. We're not infallible 100% of the time.
 
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DCM_Doc said:
This reminds me of the 2002 Arkanss River bridge collapse on I 40 at Weber's Falls Ok. The pilot of the tug passed out, the barges struck a support pier. 14 people died & 11 were injured. It happened early on a Sunday morning when traffic was light ot inexperiecednherwise the casualities could have been much worse. There was a fishing tournament on the river that weekend. Fishermen pulled several people out. One of the first in was a ABF tractor/pups. The driver barely survived, had the fishermen not been there he said he have died. The tractor was an almost new Mack, one trailer, also new was a UPack load with a family's household goods. I have wondered about how the company explained to the family that their possessions were on the bottom of the Arkansas River.
There is a good article about the tragic accident on Wikipedia.
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I remember that, also a barge hit a RR bridge in La and dumped a train in the river.
An inexperienced captain in heavy fog missed a turn.
 
seabreeze said:
The news said they did lose power.
I've never crossed that bridge but once.
Although the pilot is in command, the captain is still responsible.
A ship hit a dredge while bringing in cranes to Wilmington a few years ago.
They said it was the captain's responsibility although a pilot was in command.
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That is surprising. I'm not a merchant mariner, nor do I profess to be so my information is all (at least) second-hand. It is my understanding that the pilot is the responsible party when the ship is under their direction, and that the Captain takes his navigational directions from that pilot. That's why the pilot is onboard.
 
seabreeze said:
Water in the carburetor, bad gas?
471 Detroit ran out of oil?
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That's funny! Have you ever seen a ship's propulsion/power system? Usually, there are multiple engines, all of them mammoth. Their full speed operating RPM is around 300. Nowadays, and especially since this ship is only nine years old, it is very likely that the actual propulsion is from two or three "azipods" that are electric motors being powered by diesel (or black oil) powered engines, which may be even four or six in number.
 
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