BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Scripps News reports that at least six people are presumed to be dead after a cargo ship struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on Tuesday, causing it to collapse.
WATCH: 6 people presumed dead after Baltimore ship crash, bridge collapse
The ship's collision into one of the supports sent the bridge plummeting into the water below within seconds, along with members of a construction crew who were filling potholes at the time of the collapse.
Mike Adamek, a Western New York native who now lives just outside of Baltimore, said this is a tragedy for his community.
"It's the shock and horror of it all," said Adamek.
He said 30,000 Marylanders use this bridge every single day.
"It's horrifying. It's beyond sad to even comprehend and to know that it happened was just shocking," said Adamek.
Bishop Timon history teacher Steve Cichon recently wroteabout Buffalo's Michigan Avenue Bridge collapsing in January 1959.
"Definitely one of the worst wintertime disasters in Buffalo history," he said. "It had been really cold for a while and it warmed up a little bit and ice flows started breaking up along the Buffalo River."
The ice jams and rushing water knocked the Michael K. Tewksbury, a freighter, off its moorings. It hit a grain elevator and turned sideways. Despite an attempt to raise the bridge, the Tewksbury smashed into it.
"The engineer aboard the Cotter said that the sound of twisting and gnashing metal was one of the worst things he'd ever heard. it sounded like a car accident times a million," Cichon said.
Nolan Skipper the city engineer with Buffalo's Department of Public Works, said there are now rules and regulations involving how vessels are tied down and how the city clears ice jams.
"A lot of that is our focus is on the ice and lack of ice jams or moving through the ice jams. So any of our bridges in the navigation channel are pier-less so there is not a chance for any structure to be hit. because we don't have piers in the waterway for the navigational channel," Skipper said.
Meanwhile, the Peace Bridge Authority told 7 News the bridge span is not comparable to the bridge in Baltimore because the Niagara River is much more shallow and there's not nearly as much traffic because Buffalo is no longer a major shipping port.
