Baltimore Bridge Cleanup Begins

A tugboat pushing a fuel barge became the first vessel to sail through a temporary channel opened beside the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore harbor, authorities overseeing the cleanup operation said.

Two small, temporary channels are being opened for ships helping clean up the site of the catastrophe.

Officials said the channels would initially only be open to smaller vessels involved in the cleanup operation, and would not be big enough to allow cargo and container ships to pass through.

The tugboat Crystal Coast pushing a fuel barge transited the first temporary channel, becoming the first vessel to transit since the bridge collapsed after being struck by an out-of-control cargo ship.

The barge was used to supply jet fuel to Dover Air Force Base for the Department of Defense, the joint information center for the agencies overseeing the cleanup operation said in a statement.

A second, slightly deeper channel will be opened in the coming days, Maryland governor Wes Moore told reporters.

The opening of the temporary route "will help us to get more vessels in the water around the site of the collapse," he told a press conference.

This will allow more workers to pitch in toward the mammoth task of clearing the harbor of the bridge, which was destroyed in seconds when the Singapore-flagged Dali lost power and hit a bridge support column, killing six people.

Shipping in and out of Baltimore -- one of the United States' busiest ports -- has been halted, with the waterway impassable due to the sprawling wreckage.

The authorities hope that removing the bridge -- by cutting it into smaller sections and lifting them out -- will help rescuers recover all the victims' bodies and eventually reopen the crucial shipping lane. President Joe Biden is due to visit the port city, which is about 64 kilometers north of Washington, the White House announced.