Workers work against the clock to remove large pieces of fallen bridge in Baltimore

SPARROWS POINT, Md. (AP) — Nearly three weeks after Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed on the impact of a drifting container ship, crews were using the largest crane on the East Coast to move the remains to a nearby scrapyard.

The heaviest section so far weighed around 450 tons (408 metric tons). At the facility, workers dismantled the metal beams on Monday morning, attacking them with propane torches and a pair of giant shears that broke them into more manageable pieces. Emerging nearby was the Chesapeake 1000, a floating crane with a long history that includes helping the CIA recover part of a sunken Soviet submarine.

In the 1970s it took five years to build the Key Bridge. Now there is a race against the clock to dismantle the challenges of an iconic Baltimore fixture.

On March 26, six construction workers died in the collapse after falling into the water. Only four of the bodies have been recovered since then.

Operators hope to rescue the remaining two once more debris has been removed. In addition, they are working to achieve the goal of opening a temporary channel at the end of the month that would allow some commercial traffic to resume in the port of Baltimore, which has been mostly closed since the tragedy. Authorities plan to reopen the port’s main channel at the end of May.

So far, more than 1,000 tons (907 metric tons) of steel have been removed from the water. But it is tedious, dangerous and incredibly complex work, those responsible for the operation said Monday during a visit to the scrapyard at Tradepoint Atlantic, the only shipping terminal still operating in the Port of Baltimore.

The facility, which occupies the site of a former Bethlehem Steel plant northeast of Baltimore, has increased its activity to accommodate some of the vessels that were scheduled to dock at other terminals in the port.

Before removing any part of the bridge, divers inspect the muddy submerged remains and evaluate how to safely remove the various parts. Developing a roadmap for the operation is one of the biggest challenges, said Robyn Bianchi, assistant chief of operations for the project.

“There’s a lot of debris, rebar and concrete,” he added. “We don’t know what damage is down there, so we have to be very methodical and slow.”

At the same time, crews are working to remove some of the containers the Dalí was carrying before removing the steel pieces from its bow and towing the freighter.

“It presents a dynamic danger,” said Joseph Farrell, CEO of Resolve Marine, which is working on refloating the ship. Once that is done, the Dalí will return to the port of Baltimore. “Getting it out of there is a priority.”