Cleanup begins in 'very long road' to recovery for Baltimore bridge, port

Baltimore: Cranes began arriving Thursday at the scene of the catastrophic bridge collapse over Baltimore harbor, as authorities shifted to a clean up...

Baltimore: Cranes began arriving Thursday at the scene of the catastrophic bridge collapse over Baltimore harbor, as authorities shifted to a clean-up phase of the recovery and warned of extensive work before the major US port can reopen.

The machinery will be deployed in a tricky operation to clear the twisted steel remnants of the Francis Scott Key Bridge from where it fell into the Patapsco River -- blocking the entrance to the Port of Baltimore -- after a massive cargo ship Tuesday hurtled into the span.

The Army Corps of Engineers "is moving the largest crane on the Eastern Seaboard to Baltimore to help us," Maryland Governor Wes Moore told reporters Thursday evening.

Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath outlined the intense work ahead: "Before we can actually engage in lifting, we've got to... figure out how to cut the bridge into the right size pieces so that we can actually lift them with the crane" out of the water.

Given the complexity and potential risks, efforts to recover the bodies of the four men still missing were called off.