Most people in the U.S. were sleeping when a container ship plowed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, collapsing it into the Patapsco River and killing six construction workers. A photo editor in The Washington Post’s Seoul hub spotted surreal video of the crash on X in the wee morning hours. Soon, the entire newsroom was mobilized, bringing readers urgent updates, putting the tragedy in context and seeking to hold officials accountable for oversights that might have prevented such a catastrophe.
We published our first story at 3:46 a.m., using a format where we could give readers digestible, rolling updates with the latest news from reporters on the ground in Baltimore and across the world. We reported in real time what officials suspected about the number of people in the water. At 5:51 a.m., we had a useful graphic showing the ship’s precise path. Minutes later, we published a collection of powerful images from the scene, organized in a way that told the story of the collapse frame by frame. At 8:35 a.m., we had an entry noting prior incidents involving the Dali in which crew members died. By day’s end, we had published 97 short updates.
For those needing to quickly get up to speed, we offered a Q&A on what we knew and didn’t and a short explainer on the bridge’s history. We sought to answer reader questions in the moment. Top of mind for many: “How could this happen?” We offered an authoritative, detailed look at that before noon. Our talented visual journalists reconstructed the tragedy with graphics, still images, video and audio, showing readers the magnitude of the collapse in a way text alone could not. At day’s end, we published a powerful story that stepped back to capture all of the news developments.
Each day for the rest of the week, we used our Live Updates File format. We offered readers a heartbreaking look at the lives that were lost and an incisive report on how the incident illustrated the dangers faced by immigrants working dangerous jobs. We scooped communications the crew had with others soon after the collapse, in a story that also examined some prior problems with the ship. We dug deep into how Maryland officials had studied possible risks to the bridge, but never considered something like this. We explored the impact on Baltimore and the global economy.
Our coverage in the first three days of the bridge collapse and cleanup was notable for its breadth, depth and urgency. And it set us up for more deep reporting when the breaking news moment ended. At week’s end, we published a definitive reconstruction of the crash. We were the first to report when the FBI opened a criminal probe, looking at least in part at whether the crew left the port knowing the vessel had serious system problems. And we traced how hundreds of cargo ships had lost power in a way similar to the Dali in recent years.
