The Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster in Baltimore has brought back memories of some of the worst collapses in history.
Six workers disappeared when the bridge fell apart, with the bodies of two later pulled from the freezing water.
Had the crash happened during rush hour when scores of cars were crossing the death toll may have been far higher.
From 1960 to 2015, there have been 35 major bridge collapses worldwide due to ship or barge collisions.
In the 21st century alone, hundreds of people have been killed in bridge disasters around the world.
Here are the biggest bridge disasters in history – some terrible accidents, others caused by neglect.
Sunshine Skyway Bridge
The Baltimore bridge collapse bears an eerie resemblance to a previous disaster that occurred in Florida on the morning of May 9, 1980.
A freighter MV Summit Venture crashed into the Sunshine Skyway Bridge’s support after a sudden gust of wind.
More than 1,200 ft of the steel span collapsed into the coastal waters of Tampa Bay.
The death toll was high as many drivers were oblivious to the collapse due to the rain or were unable to stop because of the wet road, with motorists dropping into almost certain death.
A Greyhound bus plunged into the water, killing 35 people. Only one motorist survived the fall.
Wesley MacIntire’s Ford Courier hit the hull of the freighter before hitting the water, giving MacIntire some time to escape and get pulled on board the Summit Venture.
He successfully sued the company and won $175,000 which is $513,000.
A probe into the incident found that the freighter was just about to manoeuvre into a narrow channel under the bridge’s middle when the sudden gust of wind and rain hit at 70mph, reducing visibility and rendering the vessel’s radar useless.
Although the captain tried to reverse, the wind and momentum crashed the 20,000-tonne ship into the support beams of the bridge.
Pictures from the scene show cars just inches away from the edge where drivers miraculously managed to stop.
Cần Thơ Bridge
A huge ramp collapsed during construction of the 9,022ft bridge in south Vietnam.
On the morning of September 26, 2007, a 295ft ramp collapsed on top of a small island located about 100ft below it.
Engineers were working underneath it when the massive ramp came crashing down, killing 54 and injuring 80.
The collapse is described as the most catastrophic disaster in Vietnam’s construction history.
Locals, students and cadres rushed to join the rescue efforts in a race against any further collapses.
Cranes were used in the search and rescue to keep crews safe in the case of another collapse.
An eight-month investigation was launched into the tragedy.
It concluded that the temporary pillars were built partially on soft sand which left the pillar tilted.
The Vietnamese government reportedly banned two Japanese construction firms from operating in the country for one year, blaming them for failure to secure the support.
Ponte Morandi bridge
The Ponte Morandi disaster in Genoa, Italy, happened on August 14, 2018 in the morning amid heavy rain.
A 690ft section of the viaduct motorway dangling over a river, train tracks and an industrial estate collapsed.
In total, 43 people died and 16 were injured after a long stretch of the bridge came down, hurling cars into the Polcevera river.
Chunks of bridge landed on the railways and on warehouses of a power engineering company that was mostly empty due to an Italian public holiday on the day.
Homes under the bridge were evacuated, with debris strewn around.
Rescuers could hear victims calling out from underneath the rubble.
Some reported that the bridge was hit by a lightning before it came down.
However, an investigation is still ongoing into the cause of the collapse but it was said to be in a poor condition before the disaster.
The initial theory was that a structural weakness or a landslide was behind the collapse.
Later it was proposed that the southern section collapsed after corrosion and damage.
The tragedy highlighted bridge safety across Europe.
Italian outlet Corriere della Sella reported that Ponte Morandi was the 11th bridge collapse in the country since 2013.
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