Officials indicated that a search and rescue operation for six persons who are thought to have fallen into the icy Patapsco River from the crumbling bridge has been halted and will be replaced with a recovery mission.
According to Maryland Department of Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld, a local pilot was piloting the ship at the time.
According to authorities, two persons were saved from the Patapsco River, but at least six more are still unaccounted for. Officials stated that activities transitioned to a recovery phase on Tuesday evening, suspending search and rescue attempts for the missing people.
As of Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., the Coast Guard announced that it is ceasing its search and rescue operations for the six people who remain missing following the collapse of the bridge.
“Based on the length of time that we’ve gone in the search, the extensive search efforts that we put into it, the water temperature — at this point, we do not believe that we’re going to find any of these individuals still alive,” Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath told the press.
Col. Roland Butler of the Maryland State Police stated, “We’re hoping to put divers in the water and begin a more detailed search to do our very best to recover those six missing people.”
