BALTIMORE, March 26 (Reuters) -

A container ship smashed into a four-lane bridge in the U.S.

port of Baltimore in darkness on Tuesday, causing it to collapse

and sending cars and people plunging into the river below.

Rescuers pulled out two survivors, one in a "very serious

condition," and were searching for more in the Patapsco River

after huge spans of the 1.6-mile (2.57 km) Francis Scott Key

Bridge crumpled into the water.

Baltimore officials said at least seven vehicles plunged

into the water but could not give an exact figure.

Kevin Cartwright, the spokesperson for Baltimore City Fire

Department, earlier told Reuters that as many as 20 people could

be in the river along with "numerous vehicles, and possibly a

tractor-trailer or a vehicle as large as a tractor-trailer,

(that) went into the river."

"This is a mass-casualty, multi-agency event," he said.

"This operation is going to extend for many days."

Tuesday's disaster may be the worst U.S. bridge collapse

since 2007 when the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed into

the Mississippi River, killing 13.

A live video posted on YouTube showed the ship ploughing into

the bridge in darkness. The headlights of vehicles could be seen

on the bridge as it crashed into the water and the ship caught

fire. Reuters could not immediately verify the videos.

Maryland Governor Wes Moore declared a state of emergency to

quickly deploy federal resources to deal with the emergency. The

FBI in Baltimore said on X its personnel were "on scene." At a

news conference, Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley

said there was no indication of terrorism.

Baltimore is the busiest U.S. port for car shipments,

handling more than 750,000 vehicles in 2022, according to data

from the Maryland Port Administration.

It was not immediately clear if any other vessels had been

damaged or whether operations had halted to and from the port,

shipping and insurance sources said.

"We received several 911 calls at around 1:30 am, that a

vessel struck the Key Bridge in Baltimore, causing the

collapse," Cartwright said.

Baltimore police said they had been notified of the incident

at 1:35 a.m. ET (535 GMT).

The ship was identified by LSEG ship tracking data as a

Singapore-flagged container ship, the Dali. The registered owner

of the ship is Grace Ocean Pte Ltd and the manager is Synergy

Marine Group, LSEG data show.

Synergy Marine Corp said the Dali collided with one of the

pillars of the bridge and that all its crew members, including

the two pilots, had been accounted for and there were no reports

of any injuries.

The Dali was chartered by shipping company Maersk

at the time of the incident, the Danish company said in a

statement.

"We are horrified by what has happened in Baltimore, and our

thoughts are with all of those affected," Maersk said.

Baltimore port's private and public terminals handled

847,158 autos and light trucks in 2023, the most of any U.S.

port. The port also handles farm and construction machinery,

sugar, gypsum and coal, according to a Maryland government

website.

The port handles imports and exports for major automakers

including Nissan, Toyota, General Motors, Volvo, Jaguar Land

Rover and the Volkswagen group - including luxury models for

Audi, Lamborghini and Bentley.

More than 40 ships remained inside Baltimore port including

small cargo ships, tug boats and pleasure craft, data from ship

tracking and maritime analytics provider MarineTraffic showed.

At least 30 other ships had signalled their destination was

Baltimore, the data showed.

The port did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for

comment.

The bridge, named after Francis Scott Key, author of the

Star Spangled Banner, opened in 1977.