Ship That Crashed Into Baltimore Bridge Contained Hazardous Materials

The chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Jennifer Homendy, recently revealed that the ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge contained hazardous materials and some hazmat materials were breached.

While speaking of an NTSB senior hazmat investigator, Homendy said, “He was able to identify 56 containers of hazardous materials.” She said, “That’s 764 tons of hazardous materials, mostly corrosives, flammables” and “miscellaneous hazardous materials, class nine hazardous materials which “would include lithium ion batteries.”

Homendy added that multiple hazmat contains had been “breached” and that “sheen” was spotted on the waterway.

Coast Guard Vice Adm. Peter Gautier spoke of the development during a White House briefing, saying that the hazardous materials posed “no threat to the public” since most containers were unaffected by the crash.

“The majority of those containers are closer to the pilot house and are completely unaffected by the damage to the bow of the ship,” Gautier said. “And we have not determined that there’s any kind of release at this time.”

Cleanup efforts will be conducted by the Coast Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers to remove the ship, the remains of the bridge and vehicles trapped under the wreck in the Patapsco River, according to the New York Post.

Gautier indicated that the container ship is stuck in place and is held down on its bow by the weight of a piece of the bridge.

The ship crashed into the bridge on March 26, 2024, leading it to collapse and cause several deaths.

“We must ease the regulatory burdens of NEPA to get this critical bridge back up as soon as possible. And while we are at it, revise the permitting process for all infrastructure projects and improvements,” Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The Blaze reported that President Joe Biden intends to use the federal government to cover the full cost of rebuilding the bridge. The president expects Congress to support his plan.

“The people of Baltimore can count on us to stick with them every step of the way, until the port is reopened and Francis Scott Key bridge is rebuilt,” Biden wrote on X. “We’re not leaving until it’s done.”