Baltimore Key Bridge latest news: Crew of six feared dead are believed to be migrants - as Maryland Gov praises 'heroes' who stopped cars moments before bridge collapsed

Vice Admiral Peter Gautier told a White House press briefing that of the 4,700 containers on the Dali, 56 contain hazardous materials and two are missing overboard.

'There is no threat to the public from the hazardous materials on board,' Gautier said.

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

Investigators wearing hazmat suits are on board to inspect the cargo.

The pilot of the Dali rushed to drop the vessel's anchor and attempted to pull the ship as far left as possible moments before colliding with the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

The 948ft vessel, a Singaporean-flagged container ship, had a 'complete blackout' before Tuesday's collision in Baltimore, according to one industry expert.

Clay Diamond, executive director of the American Pilots Association, said to CNN that the pilot quickly handed out a string of orders to try to prevent the catastrophe.

These included dropping the anchor and attempting to pull the ship around, as well as calling the dispatch office to shut down traffic to the bridge.

Diamond told the outlet: 'Those were all the appropriate steps, but it happened so quickly and with so little lead time, neither one of those maneuvers were enough.'

The extreme size of the ship and its proximity to the bridge meant there was little hope in avoiding the devastating collision with the bridge.

Pete Buttigieg said Wednesday there will be 'accountability' if an investigation finds there are specific entities or individuals responsible for the Baltimore bridge collapse.

'The President said yesterday the federal government will pay for the entire cost of rebuilding. But if you find that somebody involved here was responsible, why not have them pay?' Fox News host Bill Hemmer asked Buttigieg.

Biden's DOT chief replied: 'Yeah, there's no question that if the investigation determines that any private party or parties are responsible, they will be held accountable.'

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott shared images from his interactions with workers at the scene.

'These first responders are absolute heroes, because the of actions that they did, they saved lives that night,' Governor Wes Moore told Good Morning America. 

'The ability to move so quickly to help shut down traffic that was getting on that bridge.

'Had we had more vehicles that were going over the bridge at the time of that collapse, we would have seen a catastrophic incident become even more catastrophic.

'So those first responders, those law enforcement officials, those people who moved quickly, literally changed the entire dynamic of what that night could have been.'

According to the contractor working with the Maryland Transportation Authority, the missing workers are from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.

The employer also told the Baltimore Banner they were living in Dundalk and Highlandtown, and they're aged between 30 and 50.

Maryland mayor Brandon Scott (pictured below yesterday) said that the recovery operation to find the six missing workers in the Patapsco River was 'even more' dangerous today due to the weather.

He told a press conference: 'With the expected rain, the choppy waters and we all know about the debris and other things that they'll be dealing with.

'We also have to live those first responders up who are putting their own lives at risk to be able to bring home those who we lost to have some sort of closure for those families.'

It was the middle of the night when a dispatcher's warning crackled over the radio: A massive cargo ship had lost its steering capabilities and was heading toward the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Within about 90 seconds, police officers responded that they had managed to stop vehicle traffic over the Baltimore bridge in both directions. One said he was about to drive onto the bridge to alert a construction crew.

But it was too late. Powerless and laden with huge containers, the vessel smashed into a support pillar. Six constructions workers who were on the bridge at the time are still missing and are feared to have died.

Footage shows multiple lucky drivers making their way across the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore just seconds before the structure collapsed.

The lights from a construction site can be seen flickering on the 1.6 mile bridge in the moments before the horrific collision.

Vehicles are also seen travelling across the span as the Dali inches ever closer to the crossing in the background.

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Maryland governor Wes Moore said he met the families of the six construction workers feared to have died when Baltimore's Key Bridge collapsed yesterday.

He told reporters this morning that the six 'simply just went to work yesteday to work on potholes'.

He added: 'They had no idea that them going to work was gonna turn to a deadly occurrence.

'They were fathers, they were sons, they were husbands, They were people who their families relied on.'

Maryland governor Wes Moore praised the divers bracing darkness and cold temperatures in the river to search for the missing construction workers after the Key Bridge collapsed.

He told reporters at a press conference: 'I can't stress enough the heroism of these folks. They are in frigid conditions, they are down there in darkness where they can literally see about a foot in front of them, they are trying to navigate mangled metal...

'The work of these first responders, the work of these divers - I cannot stress enough how remarkable these individuals are.'

A shocking new report from The Wall Street Journal quotes naval architect Fotis Pagoulatos as saying that black outs, such as the one suffered by the Dali in the lead-up the collision, are rare on ships, they are extremely hazardous.

It has been widely reported that the Dali suffered a loss in propulsion which caused steering issues in the lead-up to the crash that caused the iconic bridge to collapse like a 'house of cards.'

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Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that the investigation into the Key Bridge collapse is still ongoing, but told CNN: 'To be clear: if any private party is responsible and accountable for this, then they will be held accountable.

'But we can’t wait for that to play out to get to work right now.'

Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN that he did not have an estimated time when the Patapsco River channel might reopen.

He said: 'Not only do we need to get those ships in, there are some ships that are already in there that can’t get out. So, it’s very important to get that channel open.

'This is not going to be a simple thing. You’ve got the bridge, the wreckage of the bridge, (and) we don’t know about the conditions of the pier.'

Jesus Campos, who has worked on the bridge for Brawner Builders and knows members of the crew, said he was told they were on a break and some were sitting in their trucks.

'I know that a month ago, I was there, and I know what it feels like when the trailers pass,' Campos said. 'Imagine knowing that is falling. It is so hard. One would not know what to do.'

Crew of the stricken cargo ship that crashed into a Baltimore bridge Tuesday morning could be stuck on board for up to two weeks as authorities scramble to clear the wreckage, DailyMail.com can reveal.

The director of a local mariners' charity said he feared they could be stranded on board for up to two weeks after part of the bridge collapsed onto the back of the vessel. He added that the crew would likely not be able to leave their ship until the debris had been cleared.

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Miguel Luna, 49, was on the graveyard shift with the rest of his Hispanic crew when the Dali ship lost propulsion and caused the collapse of the iconic Francis Scott Key bridge. Luna, a father of six, is now presumed dead.

'They only tell us that we have to wait, that for now, they can't give us information. [We feel] devastated, devastated because our heart is broken, because we don't know if they've rescued them yet. We're just waiting to hear any news,' his wife, Maria del Carmen Castellon (pictured with her husband below) told Telemundo 44.

One of the missing construction workers feared dead has been named Maynor Suazo, 37, a native of Honduras.

Suazo, a father of an 18-year-old boy and five-year-old girl, had been living in the US for the past 18 years.

In an interview with CNN, his brother Martin said Suazo came to the US for a better life and said that he had also started his own maintenance company.

Engineers have blamed the deadly collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key bridge on a design flaw that is present in tens of thousands of US bridges.

Several experts told DailyMail.com that the Maryland bridge was missing critical protection systems that would have stopped the the nearly 105,000 ton container ship from smashing into the bridge's support.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge was built in 1977 and anti-collision devices like fenders or protection cells were not introduced until the 1980s.

Experts said installing fenders would cost at least $3 million, but the collapse means a $15 million per day loss in economic activity and $1.5 million daily in state and local taxes - and that doesn't include the six men who are presumed dead.

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The collapse of Francis Scott Key Bridge will 'severely disrupt' the operations at the Port of Baltimore, an expert has said.

Tinglong Dai, Professor at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, told DailyMail.com: 'It will severely disrupt the operations of the Port of Baltimore, a critical component of Maryland's transportation network, and it will have a huge impact on the local economy, at least in the short term.'

He added: '[The port] plays a central role in the U.S. automotive supply chain as the largest auto import/export port in the U.S.

'The economic ecosystem and local economy that has been built around the Port of Baltimore will be severally impacted. In the short term, many, if not all, automakers will seek alternative ports and reroute their future shipments.'

Two of the six construction crew members, thrown into the frigid waters of the Patapsco River when a container ship collided with the bridge they were working on, have been named.

Miguel Luna, 49, was on the graveyard shift with the rest of his Hispanic crew when the Dali ship lost propulsion and caused the collapse of the iconic Francis Scott Key bridge. Luna, a father of six, is now presumed dead.

A second man, Maynor Suazo, 37, a native of Honduras was identified in his homeland as another worker who is missing and presumed to be dead. Suazo, a father of two, had been living in the US for the past 18 years.

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Welcome to DailyMail.com's liveblog, where we will bring you all the latest news and updates following the collapse of the Key Bridge in Baltimore.