live from london, this is bbc news. the headlines. six people remain missing after a cargo ship ploughs into a bridge in baltimore — causing it to collapse. this is the moment the lights went out on the dali — as the ship lost power — sending it into the path of the bridge. two people were rescued from the water — and one remains in hospital — as the authorities search the river for people and vehicles that plunged from the bridge. i'm sumi somaskanda, live from baltimore with the latest what's happening on the ground. we are learning new details about the moment before impact. we will bring you the latest.

hello, i'm ben brown, welcome to verified live, three hours of breaking stories, and checking out the truth behind them. stories, and checking out �*an unthinkable tragedy�* — that's how the mayor of baltimore has described the collapse of the francis scott key bridge in the city. rescuers are still searching the icy waters of the patapsco river for people who plunged from the bridge when it was hit by a singapore—flagged container ship, the dali. six people are still missing according to the authorities — thought to be construction workers who were on the bridge filling in potholes. two others were rescued, one was unharmed, one is being treated in hospital. this was the moment of the collision. you can see the cargo ship hitting a column of the bridge on the left of screen. a report — by a us infrastructure agency — says the vessel lost propulsion

and the crew notified the authorities that they no longer had control of their vessel. the authorities say there were no structural problems with the bridge. all shipping in and out of the port of baltimore, one of america's busiest, has been suspended until further notice. you can see here the planned route of the ship, and the direction it took as it drifted into the bridge. graham satchell reports. just before 1.30 in the morning in baltimore and everything looks calm. then, this. look closely and you can see a large container vessel — it hits the key bridge and, like a pack of cards, the whole structure collapses. ship hit the key bridge, sinking.

the bridge is gone. within minutes, people were posting videos on social media. holy hell. as emergency services arrived, initial reports suggested there were vehicles on the bridge and as many as 20 people may have ended up in the water. we are still very much in an active search and rescue posture at this point and we will continue to be for some time. we have a large area that we have to search. this includes on the surface of the water, subsurface, as well as on the deck of the ship itself. at first light, the full scale of this tragedy became clear. the bridge completely destroyed, leaving tangled metal shards poking from the river. two people have now been rescued, one is in hospital with serious injuries. but between seven and 20 remain unaccounted for. the mayor of baltimore has declared this a mass casualty event.

this is an unthinkable tragedy. we have to, first and foremost, pray for all of those are impacted, those families, pray for our first responders and thank them, all of them working together — city, state, local — to make sure that we are working through this tragedy. it shook the entire house. it was catastrophic. it's such a shame, it's so sad and ijust pray to god that nobody's dead. data from bbc verify shows the route of the vessel dali before the collisions. there are questions — how could a container ship with two pilots and a full crew on board hit this bridge? it has now emerged the same vessel hit apia in antwerp in 2016. the weather at the time is calm. there was significant damage to the ship and the harbour.

the francis scott key bridge is more than a mile long, the central section is 350 metres wide and has a height clearance of more than 50 metres, more than enough space for the largest container vessels to get through. it was built in the 19705. engineers say building regulations have subsequently changed and more modern structures may have withstood the impact. i don't know whether the bridge, this particular bridge, has any kind of retrofitting or increased resistance for shipping impacts since the 19705 when it was built. but it is possible that it hasn't. baltimore is a city in shock today. the white house has called this an horrific incident. the focus in the coming hours remains rescuing people from the icy waters of the patapsco river. graham satchell, bbc news. let's go live to my colleague, sumi somaskanda, near the bridge just south of baltimore.

brings up to date with latest developments, sumi. hi. brings up to date with latest developments, sumi. hi, like you said we are _ developments, sumi. hi, like you said we are just _ developments, sumi. hi, like you said we are just south _ developments, sumi. hi, like you said we are just south of- developments, sumi. hi, like you said we are just south of where i developments, sumi. hi, like you. said we are just south of where the bridge collapse happened just along the patapsco river. to give you an idea getting her getting done what was difficult because authorities have been successively closing off more areas around the bridge where people had gathered early in the day but from here you can see over my right shoulder of the scene of that destruction. we are at this hour learning more details of course of what exact to happen. still many questions unanswered as you mentioned already but we hear that authorities are still searching for six people, as you mentioned, there is search and rescue operations on going and some of the details we have heard from a press conference the governor of maryland wes moore held about an hour and a half ago. let's play a clip of what he had to say. this morning our state is in shock and i want to take this moment to speak directly to the people of

our state. to our first responders, i'm in awe review, in awe of your courage, in awe of your strength and for every single thing that you do for every single thing that you do for us. you saw a crisis and said what can i do to help? our response teams are doing everything in our power to the rescue and recover the victims of this collapse literally as we speak. people who as we speak are out there, divers, our air assets, people right now working to save lives and are doing it because the state asks. we will update the public as the work continues. to our partners inside and outside of government, i know this has been a long night. we started coordinating immediately after key bridge collapsed. we have been standing together every step of the way from our county leadership to our city

leadership to our state leadership to ourfederal leadership to our state leadership to our federal leadership. and leadership to our state leadership to ourfederal leadership. and i'm grateful to call each and every one of you notjust grateful to call each and every one of you not just colleagues grateful to call each and every one of you notjust colleagues but am grateful to call you friends, and to the people of baltimore and each and every one of the 6.3 million marylanders who call our state home, i recognise that many of us are hurting right now, i recognise that many of us are scared right now. and so i want to be very clear about where everything stands. we are still investigating what happened but we are quickly gathering details. the preliminary investigation points to an accident. we haven't seen any credible evidence of a terrorist attack. 0ur administration is working closely with leaders from all levels of government and society to respond to this crisis and notjust by addressing the immediate aftermath,

but also by building a state that is more resilient and a state that is more resilient and a state that is more safe. that is our pledge. and that's our commitment, and we are going to give that commitment. and lastly, to the victims of this tragedy and their loved ones, all of our hearts are broken. we feel your loss. we are thinking of you. and we will always be thinking of you. we pray for the construction workers who were on the key bridge and we pray for everyone who has been touched by this tragedy and their families and all of their loved ones. but, maryland, we will get through this because that is the maryland spirit and that is what maryland spirit and that is what maryland is made of. we are maryland tough and we are baltimore strong. so in the face of heartbreak, we

come together, we embrace one another and we come back stronger. that's what we have always done, that's what we will continue to do and that's what we are going to get done together. just part of the news conference we have just been hearing from the authorities there in baltimore. let's go back to my colleague sumi somaskanda who was close to the bridge. let's talk first of all about the people missing, those six individuals. it does appear they were all construction workers who were all construction workers who were on the bridge at the time fixing potholes, we were told. that's right and we have heard from both the governor and other state officials that the bridge itself was fully up to code, there were no concerns about the actual infrastructure of the bridge. it was about 1:30am infrastructure of the bridge. it was about1:30am in infrastructure of the bridge. it was about 1:30am in the morning local time, and so these workers were evidently fixing potholes, which is not completely unusual at that type of hour. it is also a time of day

when you wouldn't have that heavier traffic crossing the bridge. i'm going to step out of the shop so we can see the shot behind me which is that bridge still of course, half of it are still standing on the other part where the ship is in the middle of it. just to note the people that are missing, it is interesting to say that actually in the press conference a short while ago we had heard earlier that there were cars submerged at the bottom of this water and that sonar detectors picked up that they were vehicles. it seems at this point they might have belonged to the construction workers themselves and that nobody was in the vehicles. again, they are waiting for confirmation. 0fficials doing the search and rescue operations. forthat doing the search and rescue operations. for that information. that's what we are learning at this hour. i also want to add some of the other information that we have found that's come in in the last hour or so, that there was this mayday signal, a distress call that happened before the ship made impact. you see what an impact it

made, this incredible image they are of the destruction. well, just before it hit it appears that those on board made the mayday call, and because of that according to the governor, what he said is that they were able to stop some cars from going on the bridge. he said of course that that was a heroic action. we have not heard the mayday call, we are waiting to hear more information about just what that emergency call entailed. but that of course seems to have made a massive difference in the number of people who were affected being on the bridge at that moment. but as you said, it appears those impacted, the six being searched for at the moment, were construction workers. fix, moment, were construction workers. a word on the state of the bridge. it was built back in 1977, i think. it's not that new. but the authorities at that news conference were pretty keen to stress that there was nothing structurally wrong with it, that it is regularly maintained.— with it, that it is regularly maintained. , ,., , maintained. indeed. they said this brid . e is

maintained. indeed. they said this bridge is fully _ maintained. indeed. they said this bridge is fully up — maintained. indeed. they said this bridge is fully up to _ maintained. indeed. they said this bridge is fully up to code. - maintained. indeed. they said this bridge is fully up to code. again, l bridge is fully up to code. again, these construction workers were fixing potholes and they have been very careful to emphasise that, it had nothing to do with the bridge but rather the ship itself and the impact of the ship. that is something we have heard both from the governor and other local authorities. just to give you an idea, you mention this, but this is a bridge that is around 1.6 miles, three kilometres long, hit by a ship that was around 300 metres long and carrying around 96,000 tonnes. we don't know exactly what was on the ship but it appears it was precisely that impact of the ship that, as we have learned now, was moving fairly fast at the time of impact that appeared to have caused the collapse. appeared to have caused the colla se. ,, �* ., collapse. sumi, we're getting word from the white _ collapse. sumi, we're getting word from the white house, _ collapse. sumi, we're getting word from the white house, the - collapse. sumi, we're getting word i from the white house, the president convened a senior members of his team for a briefing on the response of the bridge in baltimore. during that briefing the president directed his team to ensure all federal resources are made available to assist in the search and rescue efforts. and the response to this

incident. just a wider question, i suppose, this is a story that would have gripped all of america because there are bridges like this across there are bridges like this across the united states and people will be concerned. . , the united states and people will be concerned. ., , , concerned. indeed. there has been much talk about _ concerned. indeed. there has been much talk about decaying _ much talk about decaying infrastructure across the us, about the state of bridges. there was a bridge collapse in 2007 in minneapolis that cost lives and it is certainly something that was top of mind. it is of course in this case that it doesn't appear to be anything to do with the infrastructure of the bridge itself but it is very much a shock. the people that bbc teams have been speaking to here say that this bridge is a fixture of the landscape, it something, the key bridge, that you look at, certainly from where we are, as part of the highlight of the cityscape. it is also an important part of the port infrastructure, it's important to note, baltimore's port is a really important one along the mid—atlantic. so this bridge is something that has played a fairly large role, and certainly come as

you said, it comes as a shock not just of the people in baltimore but across the state, something the governor said, the state is in shock, but really across the country as people look of course at their own bridges and think about the impact that this has had.- own bridges and think about the impact that this has had. sumi, we will be back — impact that this has had. sumi, we will be back with _ impact that this has had. sumi, we will be back with you _ impact that this has had. sumi, we will be back with you in _ impact that this has had. sumi, we will be back with you in the - impact that this has had. sumi, we will be back with you in the next i will be back with you in the next few hours. but thank you very much indeed for the latest updates from their in baltimore. is that search continues for those six people who are still missing, you're watching bbc news.

you're watching bbc news with continuing coverage of the collapse of that bridge, the francis scott key bridge in the city of baltimore, a search continuing for six people who are missing. in a moment, we'll speak to an engineer about the structure of the bridge to brent howard who represents business in baltimore, and to a baltimore resident, nathan cabrera. let's speak to baltimore resident nathan cabrera. asi as i mentioned, you are a resident of the city. tell us, when you heard about the collapse of this bridge which is such a feature of baltimore and baltimore life, what was your reaction? , ., ., reaction? yes, good morning, and thank ou reaction? yes, good morning, and thank you for— reaction? yes, good morning, and thank you for having _ reaction? yes, good morning, and thank you for having me _ reaction? yes, good morning, and thank you for having me on. - reaction? yes, good morning, and thank you for having me on. i - reaction? yes, good morning, and| thank you for having me on. i woke up thank you for having me on. i woke up to a flurry of text messages and phone calls from concerned family and friends living so close to where the incident took place. so you can imagine the hysteria and the fear from folks that live close by. you might have actually heard a helicopter as there is a continued search for those and also the long—term severity of the incidents that took place. haifa long-term severity of the incidents that took place.— that took place. how important is the bride that took place. how important is the bridge to _ that took place. how important is the bridge to the _ that took place. how important is the bridge to the city? _ that took place. how important is the bridge to the city? just - that took place. how important is the bridge to the city? just give l that took place. how important is | the bridge to the city? just give us an idea. , , ., , .,,

an idea. yes, but million people cross that _ an idea. yes, but million people cross that bridge _ an idea. yes, but million people cross that bridge every - an idea. yes, but million people cross that bridge every year. - an idea. yes, but million people cross that bridge every year. it i an idea. yes, but million people | cross that bridge every year. it is important to my commute every day to work —— 11 million people. but also on top of that, this is where trucks come to bring materials and supply materials for the whole east coast. and so not having that bridge is a big deal because those trucks that might be housing chemicals or larger, more unsafe hazard materials are not able to go through the tunnels which would be the alternative for me, but we are not sure how the trucks are going to be able to pass by. sure how the trucks are going to be able to pass by-_ able to pass by. when it was hit by the caruo able to pass by. when it was hit by the cargo ship. _ able to pass by. when it was hit by the cargo ship, were _ able to pass by. when it was hit by the cargo ship, were you _ able to pass by. when it was hit by the cargo ship, were you surprised| the cargo ship, were you surprised by how quickly the whole bridge collapsed? pretty much in its entirety. it collapsed? pretty much in its entire . ., , ., ., entirety. it only took that one shi - , entirety. it only took that one ship. and _ entirety. it only took that one ship. and i — entirety. it only took that one ship, and i think— entirety. it only took that one ship, and i think everybody i entirety. it only took that one ship, and i think everybody is| ship, and i think everybody is surprised that that is all it took for it to collapse. just watching the videos all morning long, and just so grateful that more were not harmed, at least from what we are hearing about it. so i think it does

raise some concerns about how structurally sound our infrastructure is. but that's a big ship. look how much cargo was on there. it wasn't a little light tap. i'm sure the impact of it is is much greater than what we can see online. we were just hearing from the authorities that it seems they could have been many more people on the bridge but they did have time, they were warned by the crew of the vessel that they had lost power and that meant that they could close off the bridge, the authorities, to stop traffic getting over the bridge. yes, that's what reports are saying, there was a mayday call, there is nothing on video that has capture that moment. but i mean, what you see is what we are seeing, to come online. it didn't seem like there were many cars on there and the cars that were left on the bridge work from the construction workers. i hope this is just a wake—up call for

everyone to hug their families a little tighter, their friends, because no one sits for something like this to happen, hopefully it was an accident —— no one anticipated for something like this to happen. there was no distress call, so i hope people understand life is short and we take it seriously because lives are likely lost last night and it's really unfortunate but i hope they are able to recover those that have unfortunately suffered last night. nathan, thank you very much for being with us, nathan cabrera, a resident of baltimore. we can also speak to brent howard who is from the baltimore county chamber of commerce. thank you forjoining us. give us an idea of the importance of that bridge from an economic point of view to baltimore and indeed to the state. it of view to baltimore and indeed to the state. , ., ., ., ., , ., the state. it is a ma'or artery that connects three _ the state. it is a major artery that connects three municipalities, - connects three municipalities, baltimore city, baltimore county and

anne arundel county. it's a direct route for trucks and for a lot of shipments regionally through this particular area, as well as its use as another transportation arm from the port. so the port is one of the largest ports on the east coast, it does lots of shipment for our entire country, so the bridge kind of acts as another artery to bring goods and services through that particular area. so without that bridge we will be re—routing trucks and sending detours regionally through our particular area, so it is a major impact regionally as well as for our state and i would think for our nation. , ., , , state and i would think for our nation. , ., _ ., . nation. obviously huge economic consequences — nation. obviously huge economic consequences in _ nation. obviously huge economic consequences in the _ nation. obviously huge economic consequences in the short - nation. obviously huge economic consequences in the short term i consequences in the short term really from the collapse of this bridge. the same question to you as i asked our last guest. how shocked were you when you saw the sudden collapse of this bridge after the cargo vessel had hit it? bier? cargo vessel had hit it? very shocked- — cargo vessel had hit it? very shocked. it _ cargo vessel had hit it? very shocked. it was _ cargo vessel had hit it? very shocked. it was shocking - cargo vessel had hit it? very shocked. it was shocking to | cargo vessel had hit it? - shocked. it was shocking to see the visual of that bridge, something

i've been looking at since i moved here 20 years ago. so it is part of the city landscape, something that we do look too. but to see that the bridge did fall because of an accident caused by the ship was not reassuring but it is something we can definitely look to that it wasn't something structurally wrong with that particular bridge, they were doing repairs on it, the only good thing we can look to is the time of day, there were very few cars on that particular bridge, there was construction workers doing other particular work, there was some sort of mayday call sent out to allow for a little preparation to prevent other cars being able to interact with that particular intersection. so that's really the good thing going forward. but it is a tragedy and something we are focused on currently right now from our public partners are search and rescue for the victims and reaching out to the families to let them know what is happening with their loved ones that were affected last night.

we heard from corresponding to sumi at the scene there has been concern right across the united states about the state of infrastructure. but did you any concerns about, structural concerns about the bridge. the authorities have said there were not only structural reasons for this collapse, it was simply that it was hit by this huge cargo ship which was clearly very happy and fully laden with cargo at the time. —— clearly very heavy. this laden with cargo at the time. -- clearly very heavy.— clearly very heavy. as we are caettin clearly very heavy. as we are getting more _ clearly very heavy. as we are getting more information, i clearly very heavy. as we are i getting more information, that bridge is a main artery, heavily travelled, it is regularly maintained and it is up to code so that something we are now looking towards for this particular bridge as being part of a decaying infrastructure as was mentioned previously in other reports but that is not something we are looking to. from the information that i have at this particular point, the knowledge that we have is that the ship lost power and lost steering so that's why the impact was the way it was on

the sharp impact of the bridge and the sharp impact of the bridge and the point that it hit and the large size of the vessel is really what caused the bridge to collapse so immediately. so it really was a combination of a lot of factors and variables that came together that because that immediate collapse. but we do not think it was caused by decaying infrastructure or something like that. this was really truly just an accident, a large ship lost power and they were not able to steer clear of the particular bridge and hit it with great impact. so that's really what the cause is right now. as i said, ourfocus from a public standpoint and search and rescue his on the victims and their families. �* ., ., ., families. brent howard from the baltimore county _ families. brent howard from the baltimore county chamber- families. brent howard from the baltimore county chamber of. baltimore county chamber of commerce, many thanks for your time. very grateful to you for that. let's talk to doctor andrew barr from sheffield university's civil and structural engineering department.

and of course all eyes are on whether this was a structurally sound bridge. andrew, what is your view of what happened and why the whole bridge more or less should collapse so quickly having been hit by that cargo vessel? the collapse so quickly having been hit by that cargo vessel?— by that cargo vessel? the videos that we have _ by that cargo vessel? the videos that we have seen _ by that cargo vessel? the videos that we have seen are _ by that cargo vessel? the videos that we have seen are of- by that cargo vessel? the videos that we have seen are of the - by that cargo vessel? the videos i that we have seen are of the central part of a much larger bridge. but this central part is a truss structure, a lattice type structure you can see, it is a trust, and it is continuous over the three spans of the bridge. that is obviously acting as one structural piece. —— truss. what has happened is when that ship has crashed into the peer of the bridge and damaged it, part of the bridge and damaged it, part of the bridge is now trying to span twice the distance it was previously and so that's why the bridge has

been damaged. the damage propagates across the bridge and it all collapses in one go. i5 across the bridge and it all collapses in one go. across the bridge and it all collases in one no. , ., collapses in one go. is that in some wa a collapses in one go. is that in some way a design _ collapses in one go. is that in some way a design flaw? _ collapses in one go. is that in some way a design flaw? that _ collapses in one go. is that in some way a design flaw? that one - collapses in one go. is that in some way a design flaw? that one hit - collapses in one go. is that in some way a design flaw? that one hit by| collapses in one go. is that in some | way a design flaw? that one hit by a vessel like that should bring down such a huge stretch of the bridge? in normal operation the way this bridge works is actually beneficial because the continuous nature of the truss music and share the load between the different spans that it means you can build a much more efficient bridge, longer spanning bridge. the downside is then that if you lose a key piece of the structure, in this case the pier, the bridge doesn't have the capacity to support itself and you get that larger failure. to support itself and you get that largerfailure. i know you have been talking a lot about whether there were any issues with the bridge structure itself. i would say this failure is what you would expect from this type of bridge and it is downjust to the

from this type of bridge and it is down just to the ship coming in and hitting it with such a large impact from the ship. in hitting it with such a large impact from the ship-— from the ship. in terms of maintenance, _ from the ship. in terms of maintenance, we - from the ship. in terms of maintenance, we have - from the ship. in terms of l maintenance, we have been from the ship. in terms of _ maintenance, we have been reassured by the authorities it was regularly maintained, there were no issues with maintenance. but it's clear very important with a structure like this that it is regularly maintained. , ., maintained. absolutely. nothing i can see from _ maintained. absolutely. nothing i can see from the _ maintained. absolutely. nothing i can see from the video _ maintained. absolutely. nothing i can see from the video is - maintained. absolutely. nothing i can see from the video is unusual| maintained. absolutely. nothing i. can see from the video is unusual in the way it collapses or that would suggest there was an issue with the structure or the maintenance. 0ne unusual aspect of this bridge perhaps is that the ship can come into contact with that peer. many more modern bridges will have additional structures to help prevent a collision like this happening in the first place. so you might have additional structures placed around the bridge that would intercept that ship the collision before it reaches the bridge, which doesn't seem to be the case here.

very good to talk to you, thank you so much for your time, doctor andrew barr from sheffield university's civil and structural engineering department. let's recap what we know because we have had a briefing from the authorities in baltimore. the mayor has described this as an unthinkable tragedy. butjust the updates are that six people are still missing, still unaccounted for, and rescuers are still searching the icy waters of the river below the bridge. it is thought that all of those six were construction workers on the bridge fixing potholes at the time. a couple of other people were rescued from the river. 0ne couple of other people were rescued from the river. one of those has gone to hospital, the other was, we are told, unharmed. the other information really is that we have heard that the ship hit the bridge had lost control and the crew managed to alert the authorities who then stopped traffic going over the bridge, in which case they would have been more casualties. you're

watching bbc news. 0ver over the next few days mother nature will throw everything at us, a mixed bag on the way, as we often say, from gusty winds, heavy showers, hail, thunder, some sunshine in between, too. in fact the satellite picture already looks very dynamic. if we look at this conveyor belt of cloud, that's the jet stream aloft and it has allowed the colder air to dig in from the northern climes and that's going to help to build those big shower clouds over the coming days. as far as this evening is concerned, rain will be sweeping into southern parts of the uk. in the north i think there will still be some late sunshine around across scotland but cloudy generally speaking. and through the course of this evening, that rain will be travelling northwards. so most of us will get some rain. some of it will

be heavy, particularly in the north, for example in northern ireland could be 30 or a0 millimetres of rain, so really quite soggy and by the end of the night that weather front is across scotland, it is cold and miserable here in the morning, six o'clock, three degrees in glasgow, snow across the mountain tops. and then to the south of that something a little pitch riot temporarily before the next weather front sweeps in. you can see these speckles in the rain, those are the showers carried by that increasingly strong wind out of the south—west, really gale force around some of the coasts. it's going to feel quite chilly but the sun is strong this time of year, so it would be coming in between the clouds as well. if anything on thursday the winds will get even stronger as the slow sweeps in, quite a few isobars, strong winds to the south of the area of low pressure and inland we could be talking about 50 mph gusts, that's pretty strong this time of year. gales around coast, windy in the north, and again those big shower

clouds producing sudden downpours