A bridge in the US city of Baltimore has entirely collapsed into the Patapsco River after being hit by a container ship.
Up to 20 people and several vehicles have fallen into the river, says Baltimore City Fire Department, which is declaring this a “mass casualty event”
The fire department says a large vessel hit a column of the Francis Scott Key Bridge at around 01:30 ET (05:30 GMT)
Videos on social media appear to show the bridge breaking up and plunging into the water
A number of casualties have been reported and there is now a large multi-agency rescue and recovery operation under way. The governor of Maryland has declared a state of emergency
The bridge is 3km (1.6 miles) long and is part of the major 695 highway orbital that encircles Baltimore
The port of Baltimore near the bridge is the largest in the US for specialised cargo.
Shipping giant Maersk has just confirmed the ship was charted by Maersk and was carrying its customers cargo.
What caused this incident is still unclear, but BBC Verify has been looking at video of the collision and the Dali’s travel history on ship tracking platform MarineTraffic.
The container ship set off from Baltimore’s Seagirt Marine Terminal at around 00:24 local time (04:24 GMT) on 26 March.
Its speed steadily increased and it maintained a straight route south east along the Patapsco River.
Then at 01:25 MarineTraffic data shows that the ship suddenly diverted from its straight course and began to slow down.
Around this time, video shows that all lights on the exterior of the ship suddenly turned off and smoke began emanating from the ship’s funnel.
The Dali then hit a portion of the bridge at 01:28, causing it to collapse.
“We are horrified by what has happened in Baltimore, and our thoughts are with all of those affected,” it says.
“We can confirm that the container vessel “DALI”, operated by charter vessel company Synergy Group, is time chartered by Maersk and is carrying Maersk customers’ cargo.”
It adds that no Maersk crew and personnel were onboard the vessel.
“We are closely following the investigations conducted by authorities and Synergy, and we will do our utmost to keep our customers informed.”
The owners of the Singapore-flagged container ship called DALI which collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore this morning have released a statement.
They say the vessel collided with one of the pillars of the bridge and that there are no reported casualties of their crew.
“All crew members, including the two pilots have been accounted for and there are no reports of any injuries. There has also been no pollution.”
There are no confirmed details of how the collision tool place but the DALI owners have said it has “mobilised” a response service and is “fully cooperating with Federal and State government agencies”.
BCC