The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent “routine engine maintenance” in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday, as divers recovered the bodies of two of six workers who plunged into the water when it collapsed. The others were presumed dead, and officials said search efforts had been exhausted.
Investigators began collecting evidence from the vessel a day after it struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The bodies of the two men were located in the morning inside a red pickup submerged in about 25 feet (7.6 meters) of water near the bridge’s middle span, Col. Roland L. Butler Jr., superintendent of Maryland State Police, announced at an evening news conference.
Im wondering, did the workers not have radios that they could have been called on? If not thats pretty fucked up. Idk how much time there was for someone to drive to them to notify them.
Even if they did, I don’t think the police on either end would have been on the same system, or known what channel they were on.
Im thinking more like harbor communication radio but i guess they are not part of the harbor crew and just part of some random private roadwork company.
Its a valid point though there should be ways for the bridge work crew to be radioed by first responders and other safety personnel. The cops still probably couldn’t do it from their handsets but id wager they could radio a base station with the power and range of frequencies and modes could get the base station to put out the warning.
Or, y’know, sirens on the bridge itself that can be activated in an emergency, preferably in a pattern unique to the bridge (not tornado sirens)?
Honestly. This is such a rare occurrence there will likely never be such a warning system. The better protocol would be to install massive fenders or something like that to protect the bridge piers. This is a lesson that was clearly learned after the Sunshine Skyway collapse. The US needs to seriously accelerate the retrofitting of every bridge that is exposed to this hazard.