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A rescue operation was under way in the US port of Baltimore on Tuesday after a container ship hit a road bridge which partly collapsed, plunging several people into the water.

Rescue officials said two people had been removed from the Patapsco river and efforts were focused on finding “upwards of seven individuals”, with the local fire department calling the incident a “mass-casualty event”.

Video footage showed a section of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsing at about 1.30am local time. The bridge carries the Interstate 695 highway across the river.

Operations were being carried out “on the surface of the water, subsurface” and “on the deck of the ship itself”, said Baltimore fire department chief James Wallace in a news conference on Tuesday. He added that several vehicles had been “detected” in the water.

“This is an unthinkable tragedy,” said Baltimore mayor Brandon Scott at the same news conference.

Wes Moore, governor of Maryland, declared a state of emergency. “We are working with an inter-agency team to quickly deploy federal resources from the Biden administration,” his office wrote on social media platform X.

Maryland Department of Transportation secretary Paul Wiedefeld said there were no indications that the collision was caused intentionally or that there was any “terrorism connection”. There were “no confirmed fatalities”, Wiedefeld added.

Denmark’s Maersk, the world’s second-biggest container shipping line, confirmed on Tuesday it had chartered the container ship Dali, which hit the bridge.

“We are horrified by what has happened in Baltimore, and our thoughts are with all of those affected,” said Maersk, adding that the ship was operated by charter vessel company Synergy Group and was carrying Maersk customers’ cargo.

“No Maersk crew and personnel were onboard the vessel,” the company said. “We are closely following the investigations conducted by authorities and Synergy, and we will do our utmost to keep our customers informed.”

Information on Marine Traffic, a vessel-tracking service, showed that Dali, a 300-metre Singapore-flagged ship, had just left Baltimore for the Sri Lankan port of Colombo. Synergy Group said the ship was using specialist pilots to navigate out of the port.

“All crew members, including the two pilots who were aboard, have been accounted for and there are no reports of any injuries,” Synergy said.

Insurer databases showed the ship had liability insurance through Britannia, one of a global group of protection and indemnity insurers that shares losses and are ultimately reinsured at Lloyd’s of London.

Britannia said it was “working closely with the ship manager and relevant authorities to establish the facts and to help ensure that this situation is dealt with quickly and professionally”. The company said its “thoughts are with everyone affected by this incident”.

Marine insurance experts told the Financial Times that the tragedy was likely to lead to a substantial claim, including for damage to the bridge and disruption to the port.

Baltimore is one of the busiest ports on the US east coast, serving a large metro area including Washington, DC. Serious collisions between ships and civilian infrastructure are rare events, especially ones causing extensive damage and injury.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge was opened to traffic in 1977 to ease Baltimore’s growing congestion, according to the website of Preservation Maryland, a non-profit heritage organisation.

It was named after Francis Scott Key, the lawyer and poet who penned the US national anthem “The Star-Spangled Banner”. Key was inspired to write the words by the successful US defence of Baltimore against a British assault in 1814.

The accident comes after a cargo ship collided last month with a bridge in Guangzhou, southern China, killing five people.

Additional reporting by David Sheppard, Michael Peel and Ian Smith in London