AFTER MIDNIGHT
The US Coast Guard reported the collapse at 1:27am local time and it deployed crews for an active search and rescue mission after the Singapore-flagged container ship forced the trellis-like bridge up into a mangled mass of metal.
Jayme Krause, 32, was working a night shift on shore when the cart of packages in front of her shook violently at around 2 a.m. in what sounded like an intense thunderstorm.
A coworker at an Amazon logistics facility told her the bridge had collapsed and she ran out to look.
“I went over there, and sure as anything, it was gone, the whole bridge was just like, there was nothing there,” she told Reuters. “It was a shocking sight to see.”
She did not see anyone in the water, nor hear any cries for help from where she stood at the bay.
Work crews had been repairing potholes on the bridge at the time of the collapse and sonar detected vehicles under the water, which was about 50 feet deep at that point, said Paul Wiedefeld, Maryland Secretary of Transportation.