JESSE WATTERS: The Baltimore bridge collapse could have been a lot worse

 Fox News host Jesse Waters described what happened before a cargo plane crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore in his opening remarks on "Jesse Waters Primetime" Tuesday.

JESSE WATTERS: Authorities have called off a rescue operation in Baltimore after hours of searching for survivors in cold, dark waters. All six missing people are now presumed dead. At 1:30 a.m., a giant cargo ship collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge, sending a mile and a half of steel and concrete into the water.

How did this happen? State and federal officials aren't saying much, but here's what we can tell you: The ship left the port headed for India. The ship's lights started switching on and off and it lost power. The ship then makes a sharp turn and black smoke billows from above, indicating an aggressive and desperate attempt to change direction. The ship dropped an emergency anchor, but it was too late. A Mayday call came in just before impact and officials on the ground closed the bridge to traffic, but a construction crew was not able to escape. They fell into the black river, about 200 feet deep, along with tons of damaged metal and debris.

A look at 35 major US bridges that collapsed after being struck by ships and boats since 1960

Two people were saved. And another six are now presumed dead after rescue teams spent hours using sonar and underwater drones to search the river as divers located the dangerous debris. 30,000 people pass through this bridge every day. It could have been much worse. There are security measures in place to prevent this, but somehow they all fail. The anchors were designed to stop ships, and the barriers around the pylons were designed to protect the bridge. This is an active investigation, but almost immediately, the FBI ruled out the possibility of a terrorist attack.

Today was the agent's first day as head of the Baltimore field office. And we hope he's right. The governor says the bridge was structurally intact before the ship struck. But the track record of the ship is bad. In 2016, it collided with a stone wall at a port in Belgium, damaging its rear. Just last year, when the ship was being inspected in Chile, they found that it had problems with propulsion and auxiliary machinery.

The companies that hire and operate this cargo ship are foreign. It was flown under the Singapore flag and was commissioned by a Danish company. And if they are at fault, they will have to build a new bridge for us. Biden wants to rebuild it with our tax dollars.

We have to get to the bottom of this. No cargo ship has struck a bridge in decades, and as far as we can tell, no ship has ever lost power before a bridge collapse. We need answers. Someone has to pay.