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Post by Phar Lap on Mar 26, 2024 3:42:26 GMT -5
Speaking with Miss K on the phone she told me the Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after being struck by a ship. She said vehicles the on the bridge at the time plunged into the water. Are any of our Figments in the Baltimore area? I hope everybody is safe. Baltimore Bridge Collapse
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Post by Liiisa on Mar 26, 2024 5:18:44 GMT -5
WHAT?! Holy &^%$#! That is a MAJOR bridge. I had no idea, but then I just woke up. That's about a 1/2 hour drive from here. We would have been driving on it Saturday if it hadn't been raining (canceled birding thing).
Time to go read about that - oh horrible, there were cars on that bridge, and divers are going to the rescue.
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Post by fishface on Mar 26, 2024 5:48:07 GMT -5
Sounds pretty bad. The videos are shocking.
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Post by Liiisa on Mar 26, 2024 5:50:54 GMT -5
Container ship sailed right into one of the major bridge supports, and the whole thing collapsed like it was made of toothpicks.
Baltimore traffic is going to be f'd for the conceivable future.
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Post by HalcyonDaze on Mar 26, 2024 6:04:18 GMT -5
Container ship sailed right into one of the major bridge supports, and the whole thing collapsed like it was made of toothpicks. Baltimore traffic is going to be f'd for the conceivable future. I said to Clipper a little while ago, imagine waking up to this news and then realising how your commute etc has blown out for years.. very thankful it happened in the wee small hours, without too many people on it.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Mar 26, 2024 7:16:55 GMT -5
Something similar happened to the major bridge in Hobart years ago. Horrible.
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Post by tinaja on Mar 26, 2024 9:19:55 GMT -5
Reading the news about this makes me a bit shakey. I was a major bridge commuter elsewhere for my entire career. After the collapse in Minnesota I was counting seconds until I got to the other side for a while.
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Post by sprite on Mar 26, 2024 12:29:14 GMT -5
I had a message from one of my students wanting to cover this in our lesson this week, and because I haven't had time to click the link, I assumed it was historical, and for some reason, on the West Coast. Holy fuck. (She is not morbid! She works in traffic control at a port, and this is the stuff of their nightmares.) Guess I'll have to read up on this more than I'd prefer to.
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Post by tzarine on Mar 26, 2024 12:46:47 GMT -5
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Post by Q-pee on Mar 26, 2024 14:38:45 GMT -5
MsB is fine BTW
Horrendous photos and footage.
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Post by Liiisa on Mar 26, 2024 14:54:54 GMT -5
Oh and thank you for your good thoughts, Phar! I was so shocked at the news that I forgot my manners.
Yiiiikes
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Post by Webs on Mar 26, 2024 17:50:18 GMT -5
The ship lost power and wasn't able to correct its steering, hitting one of the supports.
Police were able to stop traffic but there were a few cars and some construction work going on.
All the people I know in BMore have marked themselves safe.
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Post by snowwhite on Mar 26, 2024 18:38:46 GMT -5
It was on the news here this morning.
Just glad that the time it happened meant it wasn't busy at the time, but even so, just horrible.
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Post by Phar Lap on Mar 26, 2024 18:45:08 GMT -5
For those, like me, who are unfamiliar with the bridge, this is what it looked like. Amazing looking bridge.
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Post by tzarine on Mar 26, 2024 19:26:12 GMT -5
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Post by groo on Mar 26, 2024 20:29:52 GMT -5
.... and already the RWNJs are crying conspiracy and terrorism.
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Post by Liiisa on Mar 26, 2024 21:04:58 GMT -5
Just read that "The company [Maersk] that chartered the ship that destroyed the Key Bridge [had just been] sanctioned by regulators for silencing whistleblowers raising safety concerns."
So sure it's terrorism: capitalist terrorism
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Post by wombatrois on Mar 26, 2024 21:21:28 GMT -5
Scary - just looking at it collapse like matchsticks. Ozzie alluded to the Tasman bridge incident back in 1975. Here's an article written today about the memories it brings back but also the different structure of the bridges explains why that didn't happen to the Tasman. Interesting to read the safety measures now in place, including stopping traffic when a ship travels under it. I'm sure this would not be possible in Baltimore as the third busiest port in the US. www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-27/tas-baltimore-bridge-collapse-memories-of-tasman-bridge/103637814Imagine being one of the occupants of those two cars (never mind the ones that went into the void).
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Post by tzarine on Mar 26, 2024 21:22:06 GMT -5
& failing infrastructure
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Post by tzarine on Mar 26, 2024 21:26:48 GMT -5
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Post by whothingie on Mar 27, 2024 0:13:23 GMT -5
Just caught up with this. Nightmare territory.
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Post by Liiisa on Mar 27, 2024 5:32:35 GMT -5
The fact that the cops were able to scramble to close the bridge to traffic so quickly is one piece of good news in this thing.
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Post by Q-pee on Mar 27, 2024 6:41:42 GMT -5
Yes, it could have been a LOT worse.
Hope they can recover the bodies of the lost people - I think survival is unlikely at this point (would be very happy to be wrong).
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Post by Liiisa on Mar 27, 2024 6:57:35 GMT -5
No, they’re now calling it a recovery operation (rather than rescue).
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Post by tinaja on Mar 27, 2024 9:54:26 GMT -5
I was amazed by the speed that the police got the bridge closed. Like Liiisa.
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Post by princessofpenguins on Mar 28, 2024 12:11:05 GMT -5
Just read that "The company [Maersk] that chartered the ship that destroyed the Key Bridge [had just been] sanctioned by regulators for silencing whistleblowers raising safety concerns." Why am I not surprised...
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Post by tzarine on Mar 28, 2024 18:44:44 GMT -5
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Post by groo on Mar 30, 2024 21:03:42 GMT -5
The fact that the cops were able to scramble to close the bridge to traffic so quickly is one piece of good news in this thing. I was wondering how they were able to make contact with Port Control so quickly when there was a power outage. Apparently the pilot used his mobile phone and was able to alert authorities before impact.
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Post by jimm on Mar 31, 2024 3:59:30 GMT -5
I wonder why the ship was not under the control of powerful tugboats in such a critical situation. The harbour ppl would have been aware of the risks surely.
groo - you'd remember better than me - but I seem to recall there being lots of tugboats on Sydney Harbour, and I thought they guided ships in and out of the harbour?
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Post by whothingie on Mar 31, 2024 4:14:48 GMT -5
Good point re tug boats.
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