International
Work begins to remove the rubble of the Baltimore Bridge (USA)
The governor of Maryland, Wes Moore, reported on Saturday that the bridge that collapsed last Tuesday in the city of Baltimore, an accident that left six deaths and billions of millions losses, began to be cut with a view to being safely removed by the cranes.
Moore explained at a press conference, at the police headquarters of the Maryland Transport Authority, that the upper part of the north side of the Francis Scotte Key Bridge, which collapsed when a freighter crashed into the infrastructure, began to be cut by specialized demolition equipment.
“The northern sections of the Key Bridge will be cut and removed, this will eventually allow us to open a temporary restricted channel that will help us carry more boats around the site of the collapse,” he said, and then emphasized that this work will take time.
The divers continue today to carry out underwater evaluations in support of future operations.
On Friday, the largest crane on the east coast of the United States arrived in Baltimore to remove the debris in which the bridge was reduced.
The crane, which can lift up to 1,000 tons in weight, will be one of the seven floating cranes that will participate in the collection of metal and concrete debris from the infrastructure.
These cranes are added to 10 tugboats, nine barges, eight rescue ships and five Coast Guard ships.
Prior to the removal, an evaluation of the debris was carried out, which is considered “fundamental” before removing it from the water to determine the size in which the pieces of the bridge must be cut so that the cranes can load them.
“Once we complete this phase of the work, we can move more towers, barges and small boats to the area to speed up our recovery,” the governor said.
With the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, access to the port of Baltimore, one of the main U.S. in the Atlantic, was blocked, with a transit in 2023 of 80 billion dollars of goods coming from abroad.
It is also the fastest route for the Midwest of the country and the most important for the transport of cars.
Due to the devastating effects on the local economy, this Saturday the government Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the launch of a low-interest loan program for small businesses in Maryland, Washington DC, and Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia counties.
Moore stressed that 377 people are working on the response operations after the accident, – a figure that will increase – that left six Latino immigrant workers dead.
The “Unified Command”, in charge of the work in the area, is working in partnership with Baltimore’s gas and electricity companies to reduce the pressure of an underwater pipe that extends across the width of the channel and passes below the site of the incident, according to the ABC network.
“We will clean up the debris, move the Dali (the boat that caused the accident) and rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge,” the governor promised.
“The Maryland economy and Maryland workers depend on us acting quickly. But not only Maryland is affected. The economy and the workers of the nation depend on us moving forward quickly,” he added.
He also indicated that a “zone prohibited to drones” has been established in the airspace surrounding the collapse. “All drones must be kept away from the place of collapse,” he warned.
International
Austrian man arrested in Croatia with deceased woman as passenger in his car
A 65-year-old Austrian citizen was arrested at a border checkpoint in Croatia after attempting to enter the country in his car with a deceased woman sitting as a passenger, police announced on Tuesday.
The man was detained in a routine check in late November in Gunja, a border area separating Bosnia from Croatia, the police told AFP. Suspicious because they saw “no consciousness or movement” from the passenger, Croatian officers called a doctor, who confirmed the death of the 83-year-old woman, also Austrian, according to her identification.
The woman’s relationship to the suspect is unknown. She had died in Bosnia, and the man intended to repatriate her body to Austria to “avoid the formalities related to transporting a corpse,” according to the police. Croatian media reported that the man was her legal guardian.
Once her death was confirmed, a funeral service took charge of the body.
International
Colombian nationals arrested for human trafficking and disappearance of migrant boat
Colombian authorities arrested two nationals accused of the illegal trafficking of migrants to the United States and of endangering lives due to the disappearance of a boat with 40 people aboard, U.S. Department of Justice officials reported on Tuesday.
Hernando Manuel de la Cruz Rivera Orjuela, 52, and Luis Enrique Linero Pinto, 40, both Colombian citizens, were arrested on December 13 in Colombia at the request of the United States for their alleged involvement in a “transnational human trafficking operation,” the department said in a statement.
According to the charges, the detainees were transporting migrants to San Andrés Island in the Caribbean, where they would then be taken by boat to Nicaragua. The goal was to reach the United States through Central America and Mexico.
The accused are said to have advised the migrants on how to reach San Andrés Island, where they personally received them, arranged accommodations, and “took them to the boats that transported them to Nicaragua so they could enter the United States illegally,” the statement reads.
“These defendants put several migrants on the boat that disappeared off the coast of Nicaragua in 2023,” said Deputy Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, as cited in the statement.
Both men are “directly and personally responsible for the illicit trafficking of migrants on that vessel,” according to the indictment dated October 23.
International
Homemade landmine explosion in Michoacán kills two soldiers, injures five
Two soldiers were killed and five others were injured by the explosion of homemade landmines planted by a criminal group in a mountainous area of the Mexican state of Michoacán (west), the Secretary of Defense reported on Tuesday.
The attack occurred on Monday morning in the municipality of Cotija, a border area between Michoacán and the state of Jalisco, when the military was conducting a reconnaissance mission after receiving information about an armed camp in the area, explained Secretary General Ricardo Trevilla.
“At that moment, an improvised explosive device detonated. Unfortunately, two soldiers lost their lives, and five others were injured,” the military leader detailed. The affected soldiers were airlifted to hospitals in the region by a military helicopter, while the rest of the team continued with the reconnaissance of the area.
Trevilla stated that before the explosion, the military unit had located the dismembered bodies of three people, and upon continuing the mission, they confirmed the camp was abandoned.
Asked about the individuals responsible for placing the explosives, the general suggested they could be criminals linked to the local group Cárteles Unidos, which operates in Michoacán and uses these tactics in their territorial dispute with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the country.
Austrian man arrested in Croatia with deceased woman as passenger in his car
Colombian nationals arrested for human trafficking and disappearance of migrant boat
Homemade landmine explosion in Michoacán kills two soldiers, injures five
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