Container ship lost power, sent mayday call before hitting Baltimore bridge

The container ship that struck Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday morning lost power and issued a mayday call that allowed officials to stop vehicles from crossing before the accident.

“We’re thankful that between the mayday and collapse that we had officials who were able to begin to stop the flow of traffic so more cars were not up on the bridge,” said Gov. Wes Moore, according to The Daily Beast.

Eight road crew members and their vehicles were already on the bridge. Two were rescued, and the other six are presumed dead. The search effort for them in the Patapsco River reportedly resumed Wednesday morning.  

Also on Wednesday, investigators began collecting data from the ship to determine what caused it to lose power.