BALTIMORE — The National Transportation Safety Board released images from inside the cargo ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore as it continues to investigate the bridge collapse.
Officials boarded the ship to recover information from its electronics and paperwork and to interview the captain and other crew members. Investigators shared a preliminary timeline of events before the crash, which federal and state officials have said appeared to be an accident.
Of the 21 crew members on the ship, 20 are from India, Randhir Jaiswal, the nation's foreign ministry spokesperson, told reporters Thursday. One was slightly injured and needed stitches, but “all are in good shape and good health,” Jaiswal said.
The devastation at the site of the collapse, which happened when a powerless cargo ship rammed it early Tuesday, is extensive. Divers reached the bodies of two men in a pickup truck near the bridge’s middle span on Wednesday, but officials said they would need to start clearing away the twisted wreckage before anyone could reach the bodies of four other missing workers. Divers are to resume searching once the debris is cleared.
The victims, who were part of a construction crew fixing potholes on the bridge, were from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, according to superintendent of Maryland State Police Col. Roland L. Butler Jr. At least eight people initially went into the water when the ship struck the bridge column, and two of them were rescued Tuesday, officials said.
The crash caused the bridge to break and fall into the water within seconds. Authorities had just enough time to stop vehicle traffic, but didn't get a chance to alert the construction crew.
See photos from on board Dali cargo ship as NTSB officials investigate:
