Salvage crews began their trip Thursday to the Francis Scott Key Bridge’s wreck site as both incoming commercial ships and first responders have found a helping hand from the shaken but resolute nearby community.
DUNDALK, Maryland — Salvage crews began their trip Thursday to the Francis Scott Key Bridge’s wreck site as incoming commercial ships and first responders found a helping hand from the shaken but resolute community.
The U.S. Coast Guard said crane-carrying barges set out for the Patapsco River to remove the metal and concrete from the channel. The bridge crashed within seconds after the cargo ship Dali lost power and struck one of the support columns early Tuesday.
At least two men were killed, and four others are feared dead in the chilly waters.
The crash shut down the busy Port of Baltimore, putting thousands temporarily out of work and leaving the incoming shipments in limbo.
In the first sparks of a partisan divide over the disaster, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, told reporters Thursday that the state would seek some $60 million in emergency federal funding to begin removing the debris. U.S. officials said later in the day that the money had been approved.
“Government is working hand in hand with industry to investigate the area, including the wreck, and remove the ship,” the governor said at an event that also marked Opening Day for the Baltimore Orioles.
Baseball fans at Camden Yards held a moment of silence in memory of the victims. They gave a raucous cheer for the local police officers credited with preventing even more deaths by stopping traffic headed toward the bridge just seconds before the disaster.
President Biden’s pledge to have the federal government cover the “entire cost” of the recovery drew a sharp rebuke from Rep. Daniel Meuser, Pennsylvania Republican. He said the promise was premature at best.
“It was kind of outrageous for Biden to express in this tragedy the idea that he’s going to use federal funds to pay for the entirety,” Mr. Meuser said in an interview with Fox Business News. “This is a crisis situation, but it needs a plan, not a knee-jerk spending reaction.”
The total cost is likely to run into the billions of dollars.
Rep. Kweisi Mfume, the Maryland Democrat who represents the district where the bridge was located, criticized Mr. Meuser’s remarks and told Politico he had already been in touch with House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, on a larger, bipartisan spending package for the project.
Amid the tragedy and economic devastation, residents in neighboring Dundalk showed a willingness to help.
