Video: Parts of Collapsed Baltimore Bridge Blown Up to Free Dali Ship. What Next?

New Delhi: Weeks after the Baltimore bridge in the United States collapsed leaving at least six people dead, the officials leading the operation to normalize things achieved a major feat by breaking apart the mangled remains of the bridge, paving way for the Dali vessel to move.

The demolition was carried out by the teams of US Army Corps of Engineers and US Coast Guard.

The significant milestone was achieved on Monday with controlled explosives being successfully detonated in order to demolish the steel-section on the bridge entangling the Dali ship which has been stuck there for the last seven weeks after it collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge and brought it down.

Sharing visuals of the demolition on X, Port of Baltimore tweeted, “Significant milestone achieved tonight with controlled explosives successfully detonated helping to break apart the bridge and start to free the Dali vessel. Incredible work by the entire Unified Command. @USACEBaltimore @USCG (sic).”

The US Army Corps of Engineers have said that this demolition process has completely freed the ship from the bridge wreckage in the water.

The @USACEBaltimore tweeted, “Watch: Small charges were detonated by the Unified Command today to remove the large “section four” truss resting on the bow of the M/V DALI.  This step completely disconnected the ship from the #FSKBridge wreckage in the water and federal navigation channel (sic).”

It further wrote, “Next steps include assessments and surveys to prepare for re-floating and removing the vessel. A multimedia news release will be provided Tuesday.” 

The container ship Dali has been trapped under the collapsed truss of the bridge. The truss had fallen across the bow of the ship.

The explosions blew off the massive structure jutting from the water, sending pieces splashing down near the ship resting against the muddy Patapsco River bed.

Meanwhile, Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott extended gratitude to officials for executing the plan safely.

In a post on X, the Mayor wrote, “Thank you to everyone at Unified Command for a flawless, safe execution of these precision cuts and for the care you’ve shown our city during this process. This is an important milestone in our effort to clear the channel. We’re going to get it done the right way — together(sic).”

Francis Scott Key Bridge that held Interstate 695, came down on March 26 after being struck by Dali ship, which experienced a power failure before the collision.