Irish Examiner view: Giant cargo ships too big to sail?

For Baltimore, the costs involved in the Dali's destruction of the bridge are expected to be massive - running into the hundreds of millions

The cargo ship Dali became stuck under part of the structure of the Francis Scott Key Bridge after the ship hit the bridge, on Tuesday, in Baltimore. Picture: Maryland National Guard via AP

Though Baltimore is mourning the loss of six citizens in the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster early on Wednesday morning, the city is certainly lucky many more lives were not lost.

When the giant container ship Dali lost power on the Patapsco River shortly after 1.30am and crashed into a support column, bringing the whole structure down, there might well have been hundreds of vehicles traversing the bridge and the emergency services might be looking for many more bodies than they are now.