Baltimore Bridge Collapses after Ship Struck it, Sending Vehicles Into Water

(FILES) A tuck crosses Francis Scott Key Bridge October 14, 2021, in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)
(FILES) A tuck crosses Francis Scott Key Bridge October 14, 2021, in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)
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Baltimore Bridge Collapses after Ship Struck it, Sending Vehicles Into Water

(FILES) A tuck crosses Francis Scott Key Bridge October 14, 2021, in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)
(FILES) A tuck crosses Francis Scott Key Bridge October 14, 2021, in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)

A portion of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed after a large boat collided with it early Tuesday morning, and multiple vehicles fell into the water. Authorities were trying to rescue at least seven people.
Around 1:30 a.m., a large vessel crashed into the bridge, catching on fire before sinking and causing multiple vehicles to fall into the water below, according to a video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“All lanes closed both directions for incident on I-695 Key Bridge. Traffic is being detoured,” the Maryland Transportation Authority posted on X.
Mayor Brandon M. Scott and Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. posted that emergency personnel were responding and rescue efforts were underway.
Emergency responders were searching for at least seven people believed to be in the water, Kevin Cartwright, director of communications for the Baltimore Fire Department, told the Associated Press around 3 a.m.
He said agencies received 911 calls around 1:30 a.m. reporting a vessel traveling outbound from Baltimore that had struck a column on the bridge, causing it to collapse. Multiple vehicles were on the bridge at the time, including one the size of a tractor-trailer.
“Our focus right now is trying to rescue and recover these people,” Cartwright said. He said it’s too early to know how many people were affected but called the collapse a “developing mass casualty event.”
Cartwright said it appears there are “some cargo or retainers hanging from the bridge,” creating unsafe and unstable conditions, and that emergency responders are operating cautiously as a result.



Study: Highest Number of Conflicts Worldwide in 2024 Since 1946

Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli military strike on Gaza, during their funeral in al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli military strike on Gaza, during their funeral in al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
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Study: Highest Number of Conflicts Worldwide in 2024 Since 1946

Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli military strike on Gaza, during their funeral in al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli military strike on Gaza, during their funeral in al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

The world saw the highest number of armed conflicts in almost 80 years in 2024, dethroning 2023 as a record year, a Norwegian study published Wednesday showed, highlighting the risks linked to a US disengagement.

Last year, 61 conflicts were registered in the world across 36 countries, with some countries experiencing several simultaneous conflicts, the report by the Peace Research Institute of Oslo (Prio) said.

In 2023, there were 59 conflicts in 34 countries, AFP reported.

"This is not just a spike -- it's a structural shift," said Siri Aas Rustad, the main author of the report which covers trends in armed conflicts in the period 1946-2024.

"The world today is far more violent, and far more fragmented, than it was a decade ago," she said.

Africa remained the most ravaged continent, with 28 conflicts involving at least one state, followed by Asia with 17, the Middle East with 10, Europe with three and the Americas with two.

More than half of these countries experienced two or more conflicts.

The number of deaths resulting from fighting remained around the same level as in 2023, at about 129,000, making 2024 the fourth-deadliest year since the end of the Cold War in 1989, the study said.

The death toll was led by the wars in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, as well as clashes in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.

"Now is not the time for the United States -– or any global power -– to retreat from international engagement," Rustad said.

"Isolationism in the face of rising global violence would be a profound mistake with long-term human life consequences," she said, a reference to US President Donald Trump's "America First" campaign.

"It is a mistake to assume the world can look away. Whether under President Trump or any future administration, abandoning global solidarity now would mean walking away from the very stability the US helped build after 1945," she said.

The study is based on data compiled by Sweden's Uppsala University.