Cranes Arriving In Baltimore To Remove Wreckage From Deadly Bridge Collapse

BALTIMORE (AP) — A crane appeared at the site of a collapsed highway bridge in Baltimore as crews prepared Friday to begin clearing wreckage that has stymied the search for four missing workers and blocked ships from entering or leaving the city’s vital port.

A crane that can lift 1,000 tons — described the largest on the Eastern Seaboard — had been expected to arrive late Thursday, and a second that can lift 400 tons should arrive Saturday, officials said earlier. They will be used to clear the channel of the twisted metal and concrete remnants of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, as well as the cargo ship that hit it this week.

Divers had already recovered the bodies of two men from a pickup truck in the Patapsco River, but the nature and placement of the debris has complicated efforts to find the four workers still missing and presumed dead.

“The divers can put their hands on that faceplate, and they can’t even see their hands,” said Donald Gibbons, an instructor with Eastern Atlantic States Carpenters Technical Centers. “So we say zero visibility. It’s very similar to locking yourself in a dark closet on a dark night and really not being able to see anything.”

Divers must cut up debris to remove it, Gibbons said, likening it to playing pick-up sticks, since items at the bottom can’t move without disturbing the whole pile.

“So we use underwater burning and underwater cutting solutions to help make those pieces smaller so that when we do cut them away, we’re not affecting the entire pile,” said Gibbons, who is not involved in the Baltimore effort.

Baltimoreans made morning stops at vantage points to watch for the cranes. Ronald Hawkins, who is 71 and could see the bridge from his home, recalled watching its construction in