Baltimore Key Bridge collapse: Temporary channel opens for boats working on bridge response

One of the people on the bridge just before the collapse heard the voice of a first responder calling out for him to move off quickly, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said.

"The first responders, who, again, really moved heroically, after the first mayday was called, were able to move to both keep additional cars from coming on the bridge and to begin to notify the workers and people on the bridge they need to move off the bridge," Moore said during a press briefing Wednesday.

"One of the survivors who I had the opportunity to speak with, one of the things he mentioned to me was as he was moving off of the bridge -- and literally saw the bridge fall right after he moved off -- it was because it was a first responder who was telling him to move off the bridge," Moore said.

That life-saving notification was made "audibly," although other contact between first responders and workers may have been made by cellphone or radio, Moore said.

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg plans to meet on Thursday with shippers and supply chain operators, as his office assesses industry impact.

Buttigieg said the meeting was intended to help the DOT create a "coordinated approach" as it seeks to mitigate the disruptions to one of the East Coast's most active ports.

"That said, the Port of Baltimore is an important port," Buttigieg said at the White House on Wednesday. "So, for our supply chains and for all the workers who depend on it for their income, we're going to help to get it open as soon as safely possible."

A hazmat investigator looked into the cargo on the container ship and identified 56 containers of hazardous materials, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said Wednesday evening.

The 56 containers hold 764 tons of hazardous materials that include "mostly corrosives, flammables, and miscellaneous Class 9 hazardous materials, which would include lithium-ion batteries," Homendy said.

Some of the hazmat containers had been "breached," and there has been "sheen" seen on the waterway, which state and local authorities are aware of and investigating, according to officials.

Homendy said it wasn't known how many hazardous containers were in the water after the incident.

There were 23 people aboard Dali at the time of the collision, 21 crew members and two pilots, according to the NTSB chair.

During the briefing, Homedy said the data recorders they have access to are considered basic compared to a commercial plane.

The ship's voice data recorder only captured limited information, she said.

The U.S. Coast Guard provided the NTSB with six hours of data between midnight and 6 a.m. ET upon arrival.

Officials said on Wednesday that the quality of audio from the box "varies wildly" because of the high level of background noise, which will have to be filtered out to improve the audio quality.

They expect to recover 30 days of data from the data recorders, she said.

Addressing the collision, the NTSB said that current data points to a power failure, but they have not confirmed that or a possible reason for the likely power failure.

Two bodies were recovered from a red pickup truck found in the water near the middle span of the bridge, Maryland State Police said during a press briefing.

The two men were located by divers shortly before 10 a.m. Wednesday, according to Roland Butler Jr., superintendent for Maryland State Police. The truck was submerged in approximately 25 feet of water, he said.

The victims were identified by police as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, a native of Mexico who lived in Baltimore, and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, a native of Guatemala who lived in Dundalk. They were both construction workers, authorities said.

One was identified by a driver's license in his pocket and the other by fingerprint, authorities said.

Four other construction workers are presumed dead following the collapse, authorities said, as the search transitioned to a recovery effort on Wednesday.

A survivor who was hospitalized following the collapse was released earlier Wednesday, police said.