The loss of power of the cargo ship that fell on the Baltimore bridge is the first information transmitted by the American media regarding the cause of the accident, while the crew allegedly informed the authorities that they had lost control of the ship.

In particular, according to ABC News, the Dali container ship “lost power” as it left port and the crew had alerted Maryland officials of a possible collision.

“The vessel notified the MD Department of Transportation (MDOT) that it lost control of the vessel and that it was likely to collide with the bridge,” ABC reported, citing the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

The incident occurred around 1:30 in the morning (local time) when the Dali ferry crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland causing it to collapse and vehicles to be found in the water.

Video posted on YouTube shows the ship falling onto the bridge in the dark and engulfing in flames with the headlights of the vehicles visible as they fall into the water.

At the same time, the rescue efforts in the river continue with the American means to report that the number of vehicles on the bridge at the time of the collision is unknown.

Alongside, the work of the rescuers is expected to be made difficult by the rising water level.

So far, authorities have announced that two people have been rescued from the waters of the Patapsco River.

According to Baltimore Fire Chief, one of the two was taken to hospital in “very serious situation” after rescuing him from the waters.

The second refused first aid, as he was not injured.

Rescue teams are looking for ‘more than seven people’said Baltimore Fire Chief.

He added that it was a “very large event with a very large footprint”.

“Information is subject to change as we have more information” the fire chief said, adding that the operation would continue throughout the day.

All sailors are in good health and still on board.

He also said that the sonar detected the presence of vehicles in the waterhowever the search becomes more difficult due to the tidal effect.

“We fight in the dark. It’s very possible that we have someone there that we haven’t seen yet.” said the Fire Chief.

What is the bridge?

The Francis Scott Key Bridge is a huge metal structuresection of Interstate 695 over the Patapsco River, southeast of the Baltimore metropolitan area.

It was built in 1977 and is referred to locally as the Key Bridgelater named after the author of the American national anthem.

The bridge is over 19 km long in total.

Because it collapsed like paper

Engineer Julian Carter explained to skynews because the bridge collapsed within seconds.

According to him, bridges like the one in Baltimore are “very weak in some places”.

He adds that the “catastrophic collapse” of much of it is because everything is “interlinked” along the structure.

Other large bridges may have central points where there is a disconnection from the rest of the sections.

But in this case the interconnected nature of the bridge means that “when you remove one part of it, the whole system collapses.”

Mr. Carter says that the “lightweight construction” was probably tested at some point for a collision with a ship and may have passed the test at that time.

Nevertheless container ships are now “doubled in size”.

The engineer adds that anticipates that many ports and bridge piers will need to be risk assessed for similar situations.