Fire and Explosion Damage Ship in Baltimore Harbor

U.S.|Fire and Explosion Damage Ship in Baltimore Harbor

A fire and an explosion damaged a bulk carrier ship in the Port of Baltimore on Monday evening, near the site of a cargo ship accident that toppled the Francis Scott Key bridge last year.

The Baltimore City Fire Department responded to reports of an explosion aboard a commercial vessel in the Patapsco River near the former Key Bridge site at around 6:30 p.m., John Marsh, a department spokesman, said.

A fireboat crew arrived to find a 751-foot bulk carrier, the W-Sapphire, showing signs of “damage consistent with a fire and explosion.” A cause of the explosion was not immediately clear.

The ship’s crew confirmed that all 23 people on board were accounted for and uninjured, Mr. Marsh said in the statement. The W-Sapphire remained afloat on Monday evening and was being assisted by tugboats. It will be moved to “a designated anchorage area” and will be held there until it is cleared by the U.S. Coast Guard, Mr. Marsh said.

The W-Sapphire, which was built in 2012 and sails under the flag of Liberia, was traveling to Port Louis, Mauritius, according to vesselfinder.com, an online ship tracking database. It was scheduled to arrive on Sept. 23, according to the site.

The explosion occurred near the site of a cargo ship accident that caused part of the Francis Scott Key Bridge to collapse last year.

The Key Bridge, which opened in 1977, was the outermost of three major crossings of the Baltimore Harbor and formed part of Baltimore’s beltway. More than 12.4 million passenger and commercial vehicles crossed the bridge in 2023, according to a Maryland state government report.

Early on March 26, 2024, a 947-foot cargo vessel, the Dali, suffered a power blackout as it was leaving the Port of Baltimore. The massive ship struck the bridge, toppling the structure, and killing six workers.

The catastrophe was the nation’s deadliest bridge collapse in more than a decade.