Baltimore Bridge was ’high risk’ says expert who warns older bridges were designed for smaller ships

A second channel has been opened around the fallen bridge near the port of Baltimore on Tuesday. Workers from the Coast Guard and U.S. Army say they cleared a passage going down 14 feet, or just over four meters. That’s similar to a first channel opened earlier in the week. Together the openings should allow smaller vessels in and out of the port. But most commercial shipping remains blocked, as big cargo vessels would need a channel more than twice as deep. Operations at the port have been largely halted since the Francis Scott Key bridge collapsed last week. It fell down after being hit by a giant container ship that had lost power. Efforts to clear the bridge wreckage have since begun. But officials say there is so much, and it’s so tangled, that there’s no knowing how long the job will take. Underwater images show a mass of debris, where the bodies of four victims are thought to remain trapped. Divers recovered the remains of two others