What we know about the Baltimore bridge collapse

A massive cargo ship plowed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge early Tuesday, causing the 1.6-mile structure to crumble like a pile of toothpicks – plunging cars and people into the frigid water below. Six people are presumed dead, a Coast Guard official said at a news conference Tuesday evening.

Here’s what we know about the catastrophe:The pilot quickly gave a string of orders, calling for a hard rudder to port –- as far left as possible -– and for an anchor to be dropped.

Video of the 95,000 gross ton ship approaching the bridge shows lights on the vessel going off then turning back on – likely due to an emergency generator activating after the initial blackout – but the ship’s engines never got running again, according to Diamond.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said in a written statement that dropping anchor is part of emergency protocol and confirmed the DALI was not under engine power.

“As a result (of the momentary loss of power), it was unable to maintain the desired heading and collided with the Francis Scott Key bridge,” the statement said, attributing the information to the ship management company, Synergy Marine Pte Ltd.

Footage of the crash also showed the 984-foot long vessel, which had been chartered to carry cargo by Danish shipping giant Maersk, was in the wrong part of the channel as it approached the bridge.

The ship crashed into a pillar toward one side of the bridge instead of crossing under the middle of the bridge, where the clearance is highest.

“If you look at it, it’s off center of where it should be,” Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul J. Wiedefeld told CNN.Six people who were on the bridge at the time of collapse are missing and feared dead, officials said at separate news conferences. They include people from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

All six are construction workers who were filling potholes on the surface of the bridge when the ship crashed, Wiedefeld said. The construction work “had nothing to do with a structural issue at all,” Wiedefeld said.

Miguel Luna, a father of three from El Salvador who had lived in Maryland for more than 19 years, has been identified as one of the missing, according to a statementAnother victim has been identified as 38-year-old Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, an immigrant from Honduras who has been a US resident for the past 18 years. He was a married father of two – an 18-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter, his brother Martin Suazo told CNN.

Martin said the family was holding on to hope, believing his brother would be found alive, but at this point they just hope his body can be recovered so the family can have some closure and give him a proper goodbye.

Rafael Laveaga, the Chief of the Consular Section of the Mexican Embassy in Washington who spoke to reporters near the scene Tuesday, confirmed the victims include Mexican nationals but did not say how many are Mexican.

“We know our people are involved,” Laveaga said. “It was a crew who was repairing parts of the potholes on the bridge, and they’re the ones who are going to build the bridge again – the Latinos.”

Two of the missing workers were from Guatemala, officials in that country said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Guatemala identified one of the construction workers on the bridge as a 26-year-old originally from San Luis, Petén, and the other as a 35-year-old from Camotán, Chiquimula.

Laveaga said it’s too early to determine the nationalities for all the victims and that it’s a priority to be in very close contact with the authorities.