live from london, this is bbc news. in the us, a state of emergency declared in maryland after a cargo ship hit a bridge in baltimore, leading to its complete collapse. authorities describing this as a "mass casualty event", as they say up to 20 people and several vehicles have fallen into the river. and we are alive at the scene, where divers are in the water and the coastguard is searching for survivors. you can see the aftermath of what witnesses here have described as a huge crash in the middle of the night. we will have the latest. the high court in london rules that wikileaks founder julian assange can appeal against his extradition to the us, if washington fails to give an assurance that the death penalty will not be imposed.

hello, i m lucy grey. welcome to bbc news now, three hours of fast—moving news, interviews and reaction. the governor of maryland has declared a state of emergency after the collapse of a bridge in the us city of baltimore. it was hit by a container ship, and emergency officials have described the incident as a "mass casualty event". baltimore mayor brandon scott says it's "an unthinkable tragedy". a number of cars were on the bridge at the time of the impact. the city's fire chief said it's still "an active search—and—rescue" operation, which will last "for some time". rescuers have already taken two people from the water, one of whom is described as in a "very serious condition." the search is on for at least seven other people, and possibly as many as 20. this is the moment the collision happened — you can see the ship hitting a column of the francis scott key bridge on the left of screen. the bridge quickly collapsed.

the collision happened about 1:40am local time. there is now a large multi—agency rescue and recovery operation in place. there are no reports of injuries to the ship's crew. all shipping in and out of the port of baltimore, one of america's busiest, has been suspended until further notice. the white house says federal agencies are on hand to offer support if it's needed. this is where it happened. baltimore is in the eastern state of maryland, and the francis scott key bridge crosses the patapsco river. the bridge is a key transport route in the city — traffic is being diverted throughout baltimore. here's baltimore city fire chief, james wallace, at a news conference a little earlier. so, at approximately 0140 hours this morning our 911 centre dispatched a call to the baltimore city fire department for report of a water

rescue in the patapsco river in the area of the key bridge. as units were responding and they began to receive numerous calls indicating multiple people in at the water. at some point during that chain of events of calls we began to receive indications that a ship may have struck the key bridge. we got further information through multiple calls that the key bridge, portions of the key bridge had actually collapsed. at about 0150 hours our first units arrived on scene and reported a complete collapse of the key bridge. we were also given information at that time that there were likely multiple people on the bridge at the time of the collapse, and that as a result, multiple people were in the water. we were able to remove two people from the water. one individual refused service and refused transport, essentially, that person was not injured.

however, there was another individual that has been transported to a local trauma centre who is in very serious condition. at this time we have multiple air assets from the maryland state police, as well as the baltimore police department, as well as multiple marine assets from around the region, including baltimore city, arundel county, baltimore county, as well as multiple local and state police agencies. national resources police, bpd special ops units is here, maryland state police is here. we have multiple resources. we are still very much in an active search and rescue posture at this point, and we will continue to be for some time. we have a large area that we have to search, this includes on the surface of the water, sub surface, as well as on the deck

of the ship itself. we believe at this point we may be looking for upwards of seven individuals — that's the latest information that we have. however, what i will say is that the information that i am giving you right now is as of right now — it is what we know right now. this is a very large incident, it involves a very large footprint, multiple agencies are operating, therefore information is subject to change as we get more intel and as our crews work through the morning. we are expecting another update from officials in about 1.5 hours. these are life pictures now of the ship. it is still there, stuck underneath part of the collapsed bridge. this is a helicopter view that we can show you.

this is another viewpoint, showing the ship from a different angle. you can see it there, underneath the mangled bridge. we have been hearing from the white house, saying that the president has been briefed on the president has been briefed on the collapsed bridge and the ongoing search and rescue efforts, and he is going to continue to receive updates from his team throughout the day. we heard about half an hour ago from the coastguard, talking about how many boats they had the area, in helicopters, and how they are still in an active search and rescue operation. the fbi has been investigating, just to make sure that there was no possible terrorism connection, he said, which there is not. nothing to indicate that this was intentional. so, a lot to go through. let him know from the officials. the mayor of baltimore,

brandon scott, had this to say. thank you. thank you, chief. everyone, this is an unthinkable tragedy. we have to, first and foremost, pray for all of those who are impacted, those families, and pray for ourfirst responders and thank them, all of them, for working together. city, state, local — to make sure we are working through this tragedy. this is an ongoing, active research that we're having right now. we are going continue, as you heard from chief wallace, for as long as we have to be doing that. we will do it. we have to be thinking about the families and people impacted. folks who we have to try and find and save. this is what our focus should be on right now. we are going to continue to work in partnership with every part of government to do everything that we can to get us through the other side of this tragedy. and with that, i'll turn it over to the county executive.

that was the mayor of baltimore speaking earlier. let's cross live to our correspondent tom bateman in baltimore. there's been a lot of information from the coastguard, but some of it not entirely clear about the number of people who are potentially missing. talk us through what has been said. , , , ., been said. yes, the numbers have chanced a been said. yes, the numbers have changed a bit _ been said. yes, the numbers have changed a bit because _ been said. yes, the numbers have changed a bit because earlier- been said. yes, the numbers have changed a bit because earlier on i changed a bit because earlier on during the night there was a report attributed to the fire chief and they feared they were up to 20 people in the water. they seem to have revised that down somewhat in the last couple of hours and they are talking about, as far as they know, seven people missing. they are also talking about two people having been rescued, one of those in a serious condition in hospital. when you look at the live stream video, the main images that we have all

seen, the moment the bridge collapses, that was running all night, that tape. when you wind it back a few minutes before, you can see at certain points how busy the bridge was with traffic. at the minute, running up to the moment of impact, it appeared that there was less traffic on the bridge than there had been a few moments before. although it is not entirely clear because it is only the bigger vehicles and the lorries that you can clearly see in the video. they have talked about vehicles, and at least one that they have described as a tractor trailer or large truck and they fear that is in the water. that's why we have been able to hear the helicopters and search and rescue still carrying out that operation. let me give you a sense of where we are. we are on the east side of the river here, looking over a cross is very expansive body of water, and you can see the two ramp

sections of the bridge still intact, or appear to be largely intact, and then in the middle, that completely crumpled section, the pylons of the bridge, the two triangle shapes emerging from the water. and then the container ship, which has not moved at all in the time we have been here, potentially trapped against that part of the support structure that it hit. we have seen some smaller vessels, it's unclear whether they are tags or recovery vessels, they were alongside the ship a few moments ago. we know that there are divers in the water and they are continuing to search for those that are missing. this area as we got down just after daybreak this morning, this area is a small fishing harbour, really, and there are some homes along the verge here on what is a grassy area going down to the water. some of the residence

i have been speaking to are in a state of shock about this. one local resident here told me that she was an iron worker apprentice 19705 that worked on bridges and tall structures, and they would look at this bridge being built in the late 19705 and she described it as the pride and glory of baltimore, and she was in tears when she woke up, heard what she described as a huge crash, and support the aftermath. in terms of what could have caused this to happen, i mentioned earlier the fbi are ruling out terrori5m, to happen, i mentioned earlier the fbi are ruling out terrorism, and we have seen a note from the white house saying there was no indication of nefarious intent in the bridge incident, but one of the authorities, the transport secretary was asked earlier about a possible power outage of the cargo ship at the time but he was saying that it is just too early to tell. we the time but he was saying that it is just too early to tell.— isjust too early to tell. we don't know, isjust too early to tell. we don't know. that's _ isjust too early to tell. we don't know, that's absolutely - isjust too early to tell. we don't

know, that's absolutely right. i is just too early to tell. we don't i know, that's absolutely right. there were some clues i think in that video again, because about three minutes before the point of impact, you can see that all the lights are on on the ship, and it then goes completely dark. it is completely blacked out for a couple of minutes. some of the lights appear to come on a few moments before the ship 5trike5 a few moments before the ship strikes the bridge, but that will clearly be one of the elements that investigators will be looking at. we inve5tigator5 will be looking at. we were also hearing from the port authorities that it, as were also hearing from the port authorities that it, a5 is common in these types of things, when containerships come into the port of baltimore they have to have a state registered pilot on board because port5 can have quite unique ways of having to transport big 5hips port5 can have quite unique ways of having to transport big ships in and out of them, so often tho5e pilots get on board the ship itself. according to those authorities, there would have been a state

registered pilot on board. the owners of the ship has spoken about their being two pilots and a captain saying they are not injured. clearly, the testimonies from those people are going to critical as they get this investigation, this is an early stage into how it happened. just briefly, in terms of the conditions there, presumably the water is very cold, and the search for survivors, they are up against the clock. , �* , ., , the clock. yes, it's a very cold morning _ the clock. yes, it's a very cold morning here _ the clock. yes, it's a very cold morning here in _ the clock. yes, it's a very cold morning here in baltimore. i the clock. yes, it's a very cold l morning here in baltimore. the authorities have spoken about the water is being very, very cold, getting down towards freezing. it was 1:30am, getting down towards freezing. it was1:30am, so that's going to be a very, very critical factor, obviously. and this is all about speed. we can hear one of the 5peed. we can hear one of the helicopter5 above us once again. there's been a combination actually of state authority, coastguard, and news crew5 delivering some of those new5 crew5 delivering some of those

life picture5. news crews delivering some of those life pictures-— life pictures. thank you. tom, we have to pause _ life pictures. thank you. tom, we have to pause for _ life pictures. thank you. tom, we have to pause for a _ life pictures. thank you. tom, we have to pause for a second. i life pictures. thank you. tom, we have to pause for a second. tom l have to pause for a second. tom bateman live in baltimore. thi5 this is bbc news.

let's continue our coverage of what has happened in baltimore and the bridge collapse. 0ur has happened in baltimore and the bridge collapse. our business reporter katie silva joins us now from singapore. the reason we are talking to you is because this is a singapore flagged container ship. can you just talk u5 singapore flagged container ship. can you just talk us through what we know about it?— know about it? yes, sure. the shi -|n~ know about it? yes, sure. the shipping company _ know about it? yes, sure. the shipping company synergy i know about it? yes, sure. the i shipping company synergy marine group is located 50 miles that way. it is a singapore flagged container ship company, it has about 668 ve55el5 around the world. we have a statement from the company saying all crew members, including the two pilots are accounted for, and no reports of any injuries, but they are still working to determine the

cause of the incident. i have spoken with the official 5pokesper5on cause of the incident. i have spoken with the official spokesperson for the company who told me that there was an all indian crew, about 22 people on board. a5 was an all indian crew, about 22 people on board. as i say, no injuries. they have also told us that two members of the company �*5 us team are en route to baltimore to investigate, from both miami and oklahoma, and that it was indeed unusual to have an incident like this, given that there were these two pilots on board and that it could have been caused by a myriad of reasons. find could have been caused by a myriad of reason— could have been caused by a myriad of reasons. �* .,, i. , ., of reasons. and as you say, they are investigating — of reasons. and as you say, they are investigating with _ of reasons. and as you say, they are investigating with a _ of reasons. and as you say, they are investigating with a lot _ of reasons. and as you say, they are investigating with a lot of _ investigating with a lot of questions to be asked, of course. you have been 5peaking questions to be asked, of course. you have been speaking to their official 5pokesper5on and what have they been saying about it? well. they been saying about it? well, they been saying about it? well, they mentioned _ they been saying about it? well, they mentioned about _ they been saying about it? well, they mentioned about how i they been saying about it? -ii they mentioned about how they have been sending out members of their team to investigate further. we are also already seeing the impact when it comes to shipping, so another expert has been telling the bbc that it is going to create significant

problems for both importers and exporters. already we know, for example, that about 21,000 units of cargo are going to need to be diverted. many vessels are trapped in the port because of this disruption. ten commercial ships heading to baltimore have already dropped anchor, according to analytics data of the region. of course, this is going to come with delays, added costs for the region, although it is unlikely we will see although it is unlikely we will see a significant global impact when it comes to the shipping industry. in terms of this port itself, it is extremely busy, isn't it? it is well used to having huge containerships coming through there. hundreds of thousands a year, apparently. you have been talking to experts in this field, who know about these things, so what have they been telling you? that's right. it is also a particularly popular port when it comes to car shipments, which are then going on to bigger vessels like this one, which is about 300 metres.

0ne singapore —based shipping expert i spoke with, who has actually sailed cargo through this bridge many times, he said watching the footage that the vessel had departed from the birth and made this term before it hit the bridge. seen this footage, he said there were a few possible causes, that would be either engine failure, steering failure, or perhaps a generator blackout. the other aspect he mentioned is that there is an extensive departure checklist that these boats and vessels have to go through before they leave port. it is extensive and carried out on many elements of the vessel. he said if everything was done, then something was clearly overlooked. the other question that he raised was when the last structural check of the bridge was carried out. it is a very busy port, a port right next to the bridge that ships go underneath all the time. he said as a result of that, it should have been checked very often and that would be something as well for the

investigators to look into. thank ou for investigators to look into. thank you forjoining — investigators to look into. thank you forjoining us, _ investigators to look into. thank you forjoining us, katie - investigators to look into. thank you forjoining us, katie silva i you forjoining us, katie silva there in singapore. we are looking at these life pictures that we are getting off the bridge and you can see the container shipjust the other side bridge and you can see the container ship just the other side of the roadway that was part of the bridge and you can see it comes to an abrupt end. these images are from the water, these are life pictures coming to us from on the water which shows the containerships still wear it was with bits of the bridge resting on top of it. we can hear now from the owner of a yacht club close to the bridge. reiterating what the mayor said, it is terrifying. at 1:48am, one of our employees, a former first responder, had heard it. he said it sounded like a very large, long rumbling, like a train going through.

he just dozed back off to sleep, and at three o'clock in the morning he had got phone calls from the police department, the fire department, saying you need to get up. here at anchor bay we have fuelling, we have a restaurant on site, we have access to the water, and by 3:15 in the morning we had ourfirst responders here fuelling up already. we had another woman who works at the restaurant who said her friends and family that live near the bridge said they can hear it immediately, and again it was this loud crashing. right now it is sort of chaotic. there is really not much to say. it is a very weird feeling. we have had a handful of police officers, a handful of firefighters, people starting to prepare for the diving and i'm kind of shaken up right now. it is a very eerie feeling. it must be terrifying. we heard in the news conference we were just watching that clearly they are looking for the people who might still be in the water

and they have said that sonar has detected the presence of vehicles in the water. i suppose the thoughts are with that operation to try and get the people out there. you said you have had the emergency services coming through you to refuel, if you like. that's right. we are about two miles as the bird flies to the main span here. there is a handful of marinas in the area and i'm assuming we're all here waiting to support and help. like i said, three o'clock we got the first call, at 3:15am we had first responders here refuelling, and the ownership and staff was on site by four o'clock in the morning. it has been a part of your life — the bridge has been there since 1977, so presumably it is a landmark that everyone knows and recognises. how does it feel now it is not there? ijust got goose bumps. i drive over that bridge every single day. i live in annapolis, we are in dundalk, maryland, just outside baltimore,

and i was driving over it last night at 6:30pm. you are right, it is a landmark. it gives you some of the most beautiful views in all of baltimore. i drove in another way this morning to get here. all i can say is it is surreal right now. just to feel like i was on itjust last night is an odd feeling. tell me more about the area. was it difficult to get to work this morning because of the diversions and the traffic? aam, leaving the house at 3:50am, 4am in the morning there isn't a whole lot of traffic but you can see it building. there are three main stays to get around the water, 95, a tunnel, 695 bridge, and i'm certain there is going to be chaos. the city is going to be shut down in that section for a very long time. you can see it is already building

up you can see it is already building up pretty quickly. from where you are, what can you see of the rescue efforts? the sun is starting to come up. we have a really good vantage point here at the end of our dock and at the end of our marina, so i would say probably in about ten or 15 minutes we will get a clear view of the site. we are less than two miles away from the mainstay and we're less than a mile from the second part the bridge. so i could say in about ten or 15 minutes it will be clear. you can't move to that point with your truck? not right now unfortunately. i'm kind of stuck. i would have to go back 55 or 60 yards in that direction. i just can't get there now. while we have been talking to you we had some lines coming from the white house, saying it is closely monitoring the situation of a vessel that has

collided with the key bridge. they say their hearts go out to the families of the missing of this horrific incident. the coastguard is searching for those who remain unaccounted for as a result of the bridge collapse. it must feel strange to you to have an incident thatis strange to you to have an incident that is a national incident right on your doorstep. this that is a national incident right on your doorstep-— your doorstep. this is the first time in my _ your doorstep. this is the first time in my career. _ your doorstep. this is the first time in my career. i _ your doorstep. this is the first time in my career. i am i your doorstep. this is the first time in my career. i am 38 i your doorstep. this is the first i time in my career. i am 38 years old, and there are key things that have happened in my life that i remember very clearly, and this is one of them. i will never forget where i was when i got that phone call and what was going through my body as i was racing over here, and pulling in here at tory, yes, it is a visual and a feeling i will never forget. let's speak tojulian carter, who's a structural enineer and built environment consultant. i wonder if we could just play the video of the collapse of the bridge,

and you can just explain to us what happened because it is really shocking, to see just how quickly the whole bridge collapses. if you could just talk us through. yes. basically. _ could just talk us through. yes. basically. it _ could just talk us through. yes. basically. it is _ could just talk us through. yes. basically, it is a _ could just talk us through. yes. basically, it is a continuous i basically, it is a continuous structure, this bridge. so all of the parts that form the structure are connected together and what will happen, i think the main span is something like 800 metres, so a span will sometimes have a tendency to want to lift in the middle, or sink in the middle, according to the loads and spans and configurations. what has happened is basically where it was joined at the pier, the ship impact has stopped it from working together, so any loads on one side can no longer be distributed on to the other side, and then it is overloaded, the ship has effectively sliced through and hit that peer so

hard that it has unzipped and all the load in the side stands have nowhere to go. these are very long spans, very lightweight structure. there's very little material in that doing nothing. it is what we call a low redundancy, in order to create those long spans. the ship impact is quite complex, so the design of the pier, the substructure on which the main superstructure girder is sat, and let's face it, ships now are probably from the design 50 years ago, that ship is probably twice at least of any load that might have been considered in the original design. been considered in the original desian. . . , been considered in the original desian. , , , ., , design. yes, it is hugely heavy, this container _ design. yes, it is hugely heavy, this container ship _ design. yes, it is hugely heavy, this container ship that - design. yes, it is hugely heavy, this container ship that collided j this container ship that collided with the column there. so it is all about redistribution of the weight of the impact, and there was none of that, basically. it seems so

surprising, i suppose, that, basically. it seems so surprising, isuppose, that that, basically. it seems so surprising, i suppose, that every single inch of that bridge fell into the water, there was not even a little bit that was still remaining on the other column. just all the way over. in terms of what could have been done to prevent that, is there anything... somebody spoke earlier about what they called dolphins around the columns, so can you explain what those are, and how they would stop a ship from hitting a column in the first base question mark yes, when a ship births we have the movement in the ship sideways, so generally they will birth port side or starboard side and those dolphins are basically very big shock absorbers, and they are part of a system and on structures like that, and i have designed them in the uk. irate that, and i have designed them in the uk. ~ ., the uk. we have them in the manchester _ the uk. we have them in the manchester ship _ the uk. we have them in the manchester ship canal- the uk. we have them in the manchester ship canal and l the uk. we have them in the i manchester ship canal and other canals... . . manchester ship canal and other canals... , ., , , canals... yes. i am so sorry... they take energy — canals... yes. i am so sorry... they take energy away — canals... yes. i am so sorry... they take energy away from _ canals... yes. i am so sorry... they take energy away from the - canals... yes. i am so sorry... they take energy away from the ship. i take energy away from the ship. thank you so much forjoining us, i'm sorry that we have to cut it short. thank you for being with us.

julian carter, environment consultant and civil and structural engineer.

hello again. in the next couple of days, take your brolly with you, we expect some heavy downpours, some of which will be thundery with hail mixed in there and it's often going to be windy. something quieter comes our way on good friday and saturday. but this afternoon what we are

looking at is a fair bit of cloud around. we have this line of rain here. it is really reinvigorating through the afternoon, bringing heavy downpours in across parts of south—east england, the midlands, wales and eventually some of that getting into northern ireland. a lot of cloud ahead of it. the scattered showers easing across the highlands through the course of the afternoon. some of those wintry on the hills. through the evening and overnight this band of rain continues pushing northwards, getting into northern england, northern ireland, scotland, again depositing more snow on the hills. then we have this line of showers in northern ireland, wales and south—west england extending into the channel islands. clear skies, cold, —3 or “4 where we have some snow. tomorrow, then, this line of showers pushes from the west towards the east and heads northwards. still some wintry showers on the hills across the far north of scotland where it will be windy. windy too across the south of england especially through the english channel, temperatures 6—12 degrees. 0vernight wednesday into thursday, low pressure still very much driving our weather and we have various weather fronts wrapped around it.

so, on thursday what we are looking at, basically bands of rain pushing