Baltimore bridge collapse update: Investigators reveal timeline of events leading up to ship crash

BALTIMORE, Md. -- Federal investigators unveiled caller details astir what occurred successful the minutes earlier a hulking cargo vessel mislaid powerfulness and slammed into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge, including the pilot's urgent telephone for assistance and authorities' efforts to wide radical disconnected the bridge.

The archetypal motion of distress came conscionable nether 3 minutes earlier the clang erstwhile the cargo ship's aviator called implicit the vigor requesting immoderate tugboats successful the country to respond to the vessel, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said successful a quality league Wednesday.

Within a minute, constabulary officers connected either extremity of the span were ordered to halt postulation crossing the bridge, said Marcel Muise, the NTSB researcher successful complaint of the illness enquiry - an enactment respective officials person credited with redeeming lives.

RELATED: Police had astir 90 seconds to halt postulation earlier Baltimore span collapse

Investigators had their archetypal afloat time astatine the country Wednesday and witnessed the "utter devastation" of the mangled bridge, parts of which are inactive draped implicit the ship's bow, Homendy said.

"When I look astatine thing similar that, I americium reasoning not astir the instrumentality ships that are coming through, not astir postulation getting backmost up and moving connected the bridge. I'm reasoning astir the families who've mislaid loved ones," Homendy said.

Six operation workers who were connected the span are present presumed dead, and 2 of their bodies were recovered trapped successful a submerged motortruck connected Wednesday, constabulary said. Search efforts for the remaining 4 person been paused until salvage crews tin wide dense underwater debris that is believed to beryllium encasing their remains.

NTSB crews utilized the ship's voyage information recorder, oregon VDR, to portion unneurotic a unsmooth timeline of events starring up to the collision. But it volition instrumentality months for them to stitchery the piles of carnal evidence, attraction records, vessel information and witnesser interviews required to present a afloat report, Homendy said.

Here's the NTSB's timeline successful hours, minutes and seconds:

• Approximately 12:39 a.m.: The vessel departed from Seagirt Marine Terminal.

• By 1:07:00 a.m.: The vessel had entered the Fort McHenry Channel.

• 01:24:59 a.m.: Numerous audible alarms were recorded connected the ship's span audio. At astir the aforesaid time, the VDR stopped signaling vessel strategy information but was capable to proceed signaling audio utilizing a antithetic powerfulness source.

• 01:26:02 a.m.: The VDR resumed signaling vessel strategy data. During this time, steering commands and orders regarding the rudder were captured connected audio.

• 01:26:39 a.m.: The ship's aviator made a wide precise precocious frequence (VHF) vigor telephone for tugboats successful the vicinity to assistance the vessel. Around this time, the aviator relation dispatcher contacted the Maryland Transportation Authority work serviceman regarding the blackout, according to transit authorization data.

• Around 01:27:04 a.m.: The aviator ordered that the ship's larboard anchor beryllium dropped and issued further steering commands.

• Around 01:27:25 a.m.: The aviator issued a vigor telephone implicit the VHF radio, reporting that the vas had mislaid each powerfulness and was approaching the bridge. Around this time, the transit authorization work serviceman radioed 2 of its units - 1 connected each broadside of the span - that were already connected country and ordered them to adjacent postulation connected the bridge. All lanes were past unopen down.

• Around 01:29 a.m.: The ship's velocity implicit crushed was recorded astatine conscionable nether 8 miles per hour. From this infinitesimal until astir 1:29:33, the VDR audio recorded sounds accordant with the collision with the bridge. Additionally, MDTA dash cameras amusement the span lights extinguishing.

• 01:29:39 a.m.: The aviator radioed the US Coast Guard to study the span was down.

There were 23 radical onboard the cargo vessel erstwhile it collided with 1 of the bridge's columns, including 21 unit members and 2 pilots, who are tasked with getting the vessel retired of port. All unit members were safe, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said previously.

There were nary issues reported with the vessel anterior to its accomplishment successful Baltimore, officials said Wednesday. "We were informed that they were going to behaviour regular motor attraction connected it portion it was successful port. And that's the lone happening we were informed astir the vas successful that regard," Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath said astatine the quality conference.

RELATED: What to cognize astir the monolithic vessel that crashed into the Baltimore bridge

As the probe continues, NTSB and debris salvage crews look challenging and unsafe conditions, including acold and rainy weather, slick surfaces and unstable pieces of wreckage, NTSB and occurrence officials said.

"Naturally, we're inactive precise cognizant of the information that determination are hazardous materials aboard the vas itself," Baltimore City Fire Chief James Wallace said Wednesday.

Among the ship's cargo, a elder NTSB hazmat researcher has identified 56 containers of hazardous worldly - 764 tons - mostly corrosives and flammables, arsenic good arsenic immoderate lithium-ion batteries, the bureau said.

Earlier, Coast Guard Vice Admiral Peter Gautier said determination is nary hazmat menace to the public. Of the ship's 4,700 cargo containers, lone 2 are missing overboard and neither contains hazardous materials, helium said.

The illness has near monolithic alloy structures and cement debris successful the Patapsco River, arsenic good arsenic respective vehicles that whitethorn incorporate victim's remains, constabulary said. Divers stopped their hunt efforts Wednesday until salvage crews tin region capable of the materials for it to go harmless to reenter the water, Maryland State Police's Col. Roland L. Butler Jr. said.

Unlike astir bridges built today, the Key Bridge - completed successful 1977 - is "fracture critical," Homendy explained. "What that means is if a subordinate fails that would apt origin a information of, oregon the full bridge, to collapse. There's nary redundancy."

The demolition of the span and the resulting closure of the larboard volition person large repercussions connected the city's system and the country's proviso chain, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Wednesday. The Baltimore larboard is the largest successful the US for autos and airy trucks, handling a grounds 850,000 vehicles past year.

Investigation is urgent, but volition 'take time,' Gov. Moore says

Investigators were engaged moving connected Wednesday to observe what caused the powerfulness nonaccomplishment anterior to the crash, but the afloat probe and repair efforts volition instrumentality "not days, weeks nor adjacent months," Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said connected Wednesday.

"This is complicated. It is difficult. But we inactive person to beryllium capable to determination with a consciousness of urgency and we are going to get it done. But this is going to instrumentality time," Moore said successful an interrogation connected "Good Morning America." "This is not days, weeks nor adjacent months."

"We inactive person accusation that we person to uncover," helium said, "The happening that we bash cognize though is that with a vessel of that size, moving astatine that benignant of clip, it was going to beryllium hard for that benignant of span to beryllium capable to sustain."

Moore and different authorities officials had met connected Tuesday with the families of the missing, arsenic the hunt continued.

"Had the accidental to commune with them and commune for them," helium said Tuesday. "And the spot of these families is perfectly remarkable, and we privation to fto them cognize that we are present with you each azygous step."

He said investigators would bash everything they could to springiness those families bid arsenic the hunt turns to a betterment mission.

RELATED: What we cognize astir the missing workers arsenic betterment efforts resume aft Baltimore span collapse

"We privation to fto them cognize we volition usage each resources to bring them a consciousness of closure and peace," helium said connected "GMA."

Ship's unit 'almost unimaginable,' Secretary Buttigieg says

The unit with which a cargo vessel deed Baltimore's Key Bridge connected Tuesday was "just unimaginable," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Wednesday.

"What I bash cognize is that the unit of this vessel is astir unimaginable," Buttigieg said connected "Good Morning America." "This is simply a vas that was astir 100,000 tons carrying its load. So 200 cardinal lbs. went into this span each astatine once, which is wherefore you had that almost-instant catastrophic result."

As the U.S. works to update bridges astir the country, each caller procreation of bridges is "more resilient than the last," Buttigieg said.

RELATED: Officials stopped postulation onto Baltimore's Key Bridge earlier collapse: 'These radical are heroes'

"We are astatine enactment to marque definite our infrastructure for the aboriginal is amended prepared for immoderate benignant of threat," helium said. "Really what we saw yesterday was conscionable unimaginable successful presumption of the proportionality of that ship."

Buttigieg had arrived astatine the country successful Baltimore connected Tuesday, saying astatine the clip that the DOT's Maritime Administration would assistance with disrupted port, harbor and proviso concatenation operations.

The DOT's Federal Highway Administration volition assistance with the bridge, helium said Tuesday.

He said his "first thoughts" were with the missing operation workers and their families.

"Now they are dealing with quality that's conscionable unthinkable," helium said connected "GMA."

Bridge has been struck earlier - and survived

Tuesday's catastrophe was not the archetypal clip a vas has slammed into the Key Bridge. Four decades earlier, different instrumentality vessel that besides mislaid powerfulness deed the aforesaid span - and it stood strong.

The melodramatic quality successful outcomes betwixt the 2 accidents is an illustration of the dangers caused by the monolithic summation successful shipping vas size successful the intervening decades.

A CNN reappraisal of nationalist records and interviews with astir a twelve span and shipping experts amusement that hundreds of bridges implicit US waterways were built decades agone erstwhile instrumentality ships were a fraction of the size and value they are today. Bridges of the epoch erstwhile the Key Bridge was built weren't designed to support against collisions with ships arsenic large arsenic the Dali, the vas that caused the Baltimore to topple.

The Dali has a capableness of astir 10,000 twenty-foot equivalent units of cargo - compared to the approximate headdress of astir 2,500 twenty-foot equivalent units that could beryllium carried by instrumentality ships successful the 1970s, CNN has reported.

Some experts said that this week's catastrophe should animate engineers to reevaluate whether America's aging infrastructure tin withstand impacts from the gigantic ships that traverse our waterways today.

"It's perfectly a wake-up call," said Rick Geddes, a prof and manager of Cornell University's Program successful Infrastructure Policy. "The radical who were gathering the Francis Scott Key Bridge ne'er truly contemplated ships of this size. It wasn't their responsibility - they conscionable didn't person a crystal ball."

ABC News and CNN contributed to this post.