US Authorities Check Black Boxes from Ship to Baltimore Bridge that Was Crashed, Divers Search for Bodies of Dead Victims

JAKARTA - US federal safety investigators recovered black boxes from a cargo ship that crashed on a Baltimore bridge, the agency's head said on Wednesday, as rescue teams searched for the remains of six construction workers lost in the bridge's collapse.

Highway crews will also examine the twisted remains of the Francis Scott Key bridge as they try to determine how and why a container ship struck a 1.6-mile long pillar in the early morning darkness on Tuesday.

Investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board discovered the data recorder after boarding the ship Tuesday evening, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said. They will interview the crew and other survivors, he said, reported by Reuters, March 27.

Maryland Governor Wes Moore said at a press conference Tuesday that the bridge was up to standard and there were no known structural problems.

The 948-foot (289-meter) ship reported a loss of propulsion shortly before the collision and dropped anchor to slow the ship, giving transportation authorities time to stop traffic on the bridge before the accident. The move likely could have prevented a higher death toll, authorities said.

It is unclear whether authorities also tried to warn workers before the impact.

Data collection from the ship will give investigators a timeline of what happened Wednesday, the NTSB's Homendy told reporters as he prepared to board the ship.

The process will involve taking photos of the ship and bridge, obtaining electronic records and also interviewing first responders. The agency will also examine whether contaminated fuel played a role in the ship's loss of power, he said.

Previously, rescue teams managed to pull two construction workers out of the water alive on Tuesday. One of them was hospitalized. Six other people are thought to have died, including immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador, the Mexican Consulate in Washington said.

Officials said the eight people were part of a work crew repairing a hole in the road surface when the Singapore-flagged container ship Dali, leaving Baltimore for Sri Lanka, hit a trestle.

The roped section of the bridge immediately collapsed into the water, causing vehicles and workers to fall into the river.

The US Coast Guard said they were searching for the bodies 18 hours after they were thrown from a bridge into frigid waters 50 feet deep at the mouth of the Patapsco River.

"They were down there in the dark where they could literally see about a foot in front of them, they were trying to navigate the shattered metal in a place where people were thought to have lost their lives," Governor Moore said at the scene.

The disaster forced the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest ports on the US East Coast, to close indefinitely and created traffic chaos in Baltimore and the surrounding region.