How hero cops stopped Baltimore drivers seconds before ship smash: ‘The bridge is down!

Hero cops managed to block all traffic from Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge with just seconds to spare before a massive container ship slammed into it — then watched in horror as it crumbled into the frigid waters.

“Hold all traffic on the Key Bridge,” one emergency dispatcher told officers around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to police radio traffic.

“There’s a ship approaching that just lost their steering.”

Two cops who happened to be nearby responded, and stationed themselves at either end of the 1.6-mile span — stopping cars from crossing while the 130,000-ton Dali cargo vessel barreled out of control toward the bridge after apparently losing power.

The cops noted that a pothole repair crew was still on the bridge, apparently on a meal break.

But before they could warn them, the Dali collided with a support beam in the middle of the Patapsco River — causing the entire bridge to collapse within seconds — and throwing eight workers into the water.

“The whole bridge just fell down. Start, start! Whoever, everybody! The whole bridge just collapsed,” one frantic cop radioed in.

“The bridge is down!” another officer shouted.

It took about 90 seconds for the bridge to collapse following the initial mayday call from the Dali crew, giving officers only moments to stop the traffic.

6 workers presumed dead in Baltimore Key Bridge collapse described as hardworking family men from Mexico and Central America

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore praised the cops for their quick work in making sure no vehicles were traveling on the bridge when it fell.

“They undoubtedly saved numerous lives last night,” Moore said during a press briefing Tuesday.

A review by Maryland transportation officials also confirmed that there were no vehicles driving on the bridge at the time of the incident.

Two of the workers on the bridge were rescued, with one hospitalized and another refusing treatment.

One of the first responders at the scene told The Post the uninjured man, who has yet to be publicly named, was shaken up and just wanted to go home.

“He brushed his clothes off and wanted to see his family,” the first responder said. “He was shaken up a little bit but nothing major. I guess the good lord was on his side.”

Moore said Tuesday afternoon that the search and rescue operation was still underway for the six workers who were missing.

The MV Dali, a Singapore-flagged container ship, had apparently “lost propulsion” as it was leaving the Port of Baltimore after 1:00 a.m., at which time crew members warned officials of a possible collision, according to a report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency obtained by ABC News .

Officials in Singapore confirmed there were 22 Indian crew members and two local harbor pilots aboard the ship. All members of the crew were reported safe.

Search for Baltimore Key Bridge collapse victims suspended as six ‘presumed dead:’ officials

Officials said the Dali’s lights suddenly went out around 1:25 a.m., with video of the scene showing black smoke billowing from the ship’s chimney.

A minute later, at 1:26 a.m, the ship appeared to be making a turn as its lights went off again before it slammed into the bridge’s support about a minute later.

David Garza, 19, who lives in Dundalk less than a mile from the bridge, said he heard a “big boom” during the moment of impact at around 1:30 a.m..

“It just made the whole house shake. It felt like an earthquake sort of,” he told The Post.

“My mom thought it was an airplane that crashed, that’s how it sounded.”

Kyleigh Gray, 14, another Dundalk resident who lives with her grandmother, echoed the description of the crash as an “earthquake” that jolted residents awake.

“It’s scary. Just looking at it is scary,” she said.

“My family could have been up there. My grandfather could have been up there. He goes on that bridge every day.”

Moore declared a state of emergency over the incident as the US Coast Guard and law enforcement agencies continue to search for the missing, with the National Transportation Safety Board set to begin a lengthy investigation into what caused the crash.

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NTSB Board Chair Jennifer Homendy told reporters Tuesday that a team of 24 investigators are at the scene and set to get their hands on the Dali’s data and the safety record and background surrounding the bridge to figure out what went wrong in the moments leading up to the collision.

The ship traveled through the New York area without trouble prior to the crash, with the Dali passing under both the Verrazano-Narrows and Bayonne bridges on March 19, Bloomberg reports.

The governor and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg warned that the road ahead for Baltimore would be tough given the destruction of a major bridge that allowed about 35,000 vehicles to cross everyday.

“The path to normalcy will not be easy, it will not be quick, it will not be inexpensive, but we will work together,” Buttigieg said, adding that he is ready to approve any emergency funding the city needs.

President Biden also promised to deliver federal funds “to pay for the entire cost of reconstructing” the bridge and as he said “every federal agency with any sort of expertise or equity” will work on the reconstruction.

Officials, however, have yet to offer a timeline of when the shipping lane to the $80 billion-per-year Port of Baltimore — which is now blocked — would be reopened, or the bridge rebuilt.

The collapse of logistical issues for not just the state, but the nation as a whole. Baltimore is the nation’s leading import and export site for cars, light trucks, sugar and gypsum — which is used in fertilizer, drywall and plaster.

The port had seen a record 52.3 million tons of foreign cargo transported in 2023.

The port also generates more than 15,300 jobs, with another 140,000 jobs linked to the activity at the port.

“We need to make sure the channel is open,” US Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), said.”It affects our economy, it affects our jobs, not just here in Maryland, but all across the United States.”

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