Key day in Baltimore –

BALTIMORE, Md. (AP) — Engineering teams were working yesterday in the intricate process of cutting and removing the first section of twisted metal from the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland.

The bridge fell into the Patapsco River on Tuesday following a massive freighter collided with one of its main support columns. Sparks might be seen flying from a bent and crumpled section of steel yesterday followingnoon.

The United States Coast Guard confirmed that work has begun to remove a section of the downed structure.

Crews are carefully measuring and cutting the steel from the collapsed bridge and then attaching straps so it can be lifted onto a barge and floated away, US Coast Guard Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath said yesterday.

Seven floating cranes — including a huge one capable of lifting 1,000 tons — 10 tugboats, nine barges, eight salvage vessels and five Coast Guard boats are in the water southeast of Baltimore.

Each move affects what happens next and, ultimately, how long it will take to clear all the debris and reopen the shipping channel and the blocked Baltimore port, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said.

“I cannot stress enough how important today (yesterday) and the first displacement of this bridge and the remains are. “It is going to be an extraordinarily complicated process,” Moore stated.

Undeterred by the morning chill, longtime Baltimore resident Randy Lichtenberg and others took photos with their phones or simply silently gazed at the broken pieces of the bridge, which, including its steel beams, weigh up to 4 thousand tons.

“I wouldn’t want to be in that water. It must be cold. It’s hard work,” Lichtenberg said from a spot on the river called Sparrows Point.