By Hayes Gardner | Baltimore Sun
A mess of steel and concrete from the destroyed Francis Scott Key Bridge sits in the Patapsco River, but efforts to clean it up took an initial step Saturday. Cutting a portion of the bridge into a smaller piece and using a crane, officials planned Saturday evening to remove the first segment of the bridge from the waterway.
Four days after the Dali, a 984-foot ship weighing more than 112,000 metric tons, ran into the bridge and completely knocked it over, authorities are working to clear the water of debris. Six construction workers, who were on the bridge at the time of the accident, were killed. Authorities have only found two of their bodies.
Gov. Wes Moore stressed that recovering their bodies remains a priority, but that weather conditions, paired with debris in the water, make diving “unsafe.” Efforts to recover the bodies have been paused, Moore said in a Saturday news conference, but will resume later. In the meantime, officials are working to clear the shipping channel, which will aid in the salvage process and later efforts to locate the four remaining bodies.