BALTIMORE BRIDGE
Who is Brandon Scott, the mayor of Baltimore?
Scott, who has been mayor of the Maryland city since 2020, says the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge is an “unthinkable tragedy”.
Baltimore mayor Brandon Scott has described the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge as an “unthinkable tragedy”.
Search and rescue underway after ship hits FSK bridge
The 1.6-mile-long bridge, which crosses the Patapsco River, collapsed in the early hours of Tuesday morning, after being struck by a container ship.
The director of communications of the Baltimore City Fire Department, Kevin Cartwright, has described the collapse as a “mass casualty event”, with the department’s chief, James Wallace, adding: “There were likely multiple people on the bridge at the time of the collapse.”
Wallace told a press conference that emergency services were looking for at least seven people, and revealed that two individuals had already been pulled from the water. He said one was uninjured, but the other was hospitalised in a “very serious condition”.
Video - Bridge collapses after ship collision:
“We have to pray for all those impacted” - Scott
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday morning, Mayor Scott said: “We have to first and foremost pray for all of those who are impacted, those families, and pray for our first responders and thank them, all of them, working together - city, state, local - to make sure that we are working through this tragedy.”
In an interview with CNN, Scott added: “Our focus [..] is about those souls and those people that we’re trying to find and get out of this water […]. Right now, everyone in this world’s focus should be about these souls, and those families who are wondering if those people are going to walk in the door.”
He added that the images of the bridge’s collapse are “something out of an action movie. It’s something you never think you would see.”
Who is Brandon Scott?
Born in Baltimore, Scott became the Maryland city’s mayor in December 2020, having won a comprehensive victory in the mayoral election a month earlier. Up against independent candidate Bob Wallace and Republican contender Shannon Wright, the Democrat earned just over 70% of the vote.
Scott, who was formerly president of the Baltimore City Council, and was a candidate to become Maryland’s lieutenant governor in 2018, was 36 when he assumed office at Baltimore’s City Hall just over three years ago. That made him the city’s youngest ever mayor.
In November 2023, Scott announced his intention to seek a second term. “We understand that not every problem can be solved overnight, but when you remain steadfast and true to Baltimore’s people, slowly those little changes add up to big progress for our city,” Scott said, per Fox. Baltimore is due to go to the polls on 5 November 2024.