Baltimore Bridge Crash: Pilot's 'Mayday' May Have Saved Lives

Before his ship collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, the captain of the container ship Daly called for help and saved many lives.

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Radio communications from the Port of Baltimore were traced to the Broadcastify site, which publishes conversations between ships and ports in the United States, after a warning signal sent by the ship's captain led to the port being closed to traffic.

“Stop all traffic on the bridge, there's a boat approaching and it's no longer maneuverable,” the first responder indicated to his colleagues on either side of the structure after hearing a “Mayday” that might have been issued by the pilot.

This call would have had the effect of limiting the number of people on the bridge at the time of impact.

“The pilot did exactly what he was supposed to do,” the oceanographer and history professor at Campbell University in North Carolina told NBC News.

The latter adds that there is “very little margin for error” when navigating these navigation channels.

Another expert interviewed by NBC News, Morgan McManus, an instructor at SUNY Maritime College in New York, indicated that nothing would have changed had the anchor been dropped.

“At 8 knots, you need a few thousand meters to stop,” he says.

At that time, 6 workers who were engaged in the repair work on the road of the bridge are still missing.