Around 1:30 AM on Tuesday March 26th the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore collapsed when a cargo ship lost its power and crashed into it. This tragedy has affected many lives, people have gone missing, some have passed away and everyone is looking for someone or something to blame. Six construction workers whose lives were taken were repairing potholes on the bridge but plunged into the river when the ship hit. Of the 6 only 3 bodies have been identified. There was a Vigil held for these victims Friday night to honor their lives and to show support to the mourning families. One anonymous responder had this to say “I had seen the news on the TV with my family we were all pretty shocked and had no idea what had caused the collapse”  

Timeline of the tragedy given by CBS news:

12:45 AM- The Dali, a Singaporean-flagged cargo ship leaves the dock in Baltimore and begins moving down the Patapsco River. Tug boats that are regularly used at the Port of Baltimore to help get vehicles out of the docking station were already cut loose when the Dali’s pilot and crew lost control of the ship. Although ships aren’t required to have escorts through the bridge.

12:56 AM- The boat starts to make a big arc, turning towards the Francis Scott Key bridge 

1:24 AM- the National Transportation Safety Board(NTSB) which obtained the Dali’s voyage data recorder, which records audio from the boat’s bridge and radios, said around 1:24 AM, “Numerous aural alarms were recorded on the ship’s bridge audio.” The device briefly stopped recording but then turned on again using the ship’s redundant power source 

1:25 AM- The ship reached its max speed and then lost power one minute later at 1:26 AM the crew on board makes a mayday call, saying a collision might be possible. The ship’s pilot also made radio calls asking for tugs in the area and the pilot association called the police at this point regarding the ship’s blackout, according to the NTSB.

1:27 AM-The Pilot asked the crew to drop the anchor, according to the ship’s recorder. The crew made an effort to deploy the anchor, but it remains unclear how much progress was made, officials said. The Pilot made another radio call saying the ship had lost all power 

1:28 AM- The 911 records show concern was raised for a crew working on the bridge. “I’m not sure if there’s a crew up there, you might notify whoever the foreman is, see if we can get them off the bridge temporarily,” someone on the call says

1:29 AM- The boat starts to lose speed at around 1:29 AM and soon, it hits a column holding up the bridge. Audio on the ship’s recorder is consistent with the collision into the Key Bridge, NTSB says.- 

This timeline can really help explain a little better how the crew recalled the incident. Of course there are many speculations on what really happened. When I began researching I dug a little deeper and noticed that with all heavy hits just like this one there are people questioning what might have actually happened. Things have gotten very serious and now the FBI is involved. Immediately after news of the collapse had spread people had seen so many people online giving their theories on what really happened one of these was internet celebrity Andrew Tate who claimed that the ship had been “cyber-attacked.” Of course not many really listened as he is a very controversial figure. Others may have believed that because of the Singaporean flag it may have been an outside force. Some are speculating that it could have been a foreign power like Israel or Palestine and a couple of content creators are already making assumptions about WW3 beginning with this bridge collapse. 

This isn’t the first time infrastructure being destroyed brings up conspiracies. When we go back to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center many conspiracy theorists immediately pinned the blame on Bushin an attempt to cover up the U.S.’s terrible economic status at the time. 

This National tragedy will never be forgotten as it has caused a big impact on how the country is viewing the recent issues with Gaza and the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.