The cause of the collapse was not immediately confirmed.
United States Washington:
Conspiracy theorists said Tuesday that the Baltimore bridge collapse was the result of an intentional attack, though officials quickly said there was no evidence of that.
Hours after a container ship hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge, sending vehicles and people plunging into the US city’s frigid port, users on X and other platforms blamed everything from terrorists to Israel Behavior.
One of the most viral posts came from influencer Andrew Tate, who told his 9 million followers on
“The lights went out and it was deliberately turned towards bridge supports,” the American-born Briton said. “Foreign agents in the United States attack digital infrastructure. Nothing is safe.”
The accusation was retweeted by InfoWars founder Alex Jones, who has been held liable in multiple defamation lawsuits for claiming the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting was a hoax.
“It seems to me to be intentional,” he said. “A cyberattack is likely. World War III has already begun.”
There was no immediate confirmation of the cause of the collapse, but Baltimore Police Chief Richard Worley said there was no indication of terrorism.
Video showed the ship twice plunging into darkness in the moments before the collision, and Maryland Governor Wes Moore said at a news conference on Tuesday that “the crew notified authorities of the electrical issues.”
Moore added that officials had not seen “any credible evidence of a terrorist attack.” Bill DelBagno, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Baltimore field office, also said there was no evidence of terrorism.
Those assurances did not stop rumors from spreading on X, with some reports linking the tragedy to the United States abstaining from a UN Security Council vote calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza war.
“Did Israel attack the United States yesterday for not using its veto?” one account said in a post that had thousands of interactions.
Others blamed the bridge collapse on the Islamic State group or corporate diversity initiatives, which have become flashpoints in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election, with “false flag” suggestions appearing on the most conspiratorial pages.
Synergy Marine Group, the manager of the Singapore-flagged Dali container ship, which was controlled by two Baltimore Port pilots at the time of the collision, said the cause of the accident has not yet been determined. No crew members were injured.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
