Maryland bridge collapse a false flag event? No, authorities say it was an accident

Soon after a container ship crashed into a Maryland bridge early March 26, causing it to collapse and sending people into the water, some social media users baselessly said the tragedy was a false flag event.

"False Flag? Deep State Op? Unexpected accident? People I have told you all we are dealing with a cornered animal. We can expect many events of this nature," said one X post.

The post’s author also suggested the event was a distraction from a raid on music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs’ properties as part of a sex trafficking investigation. The post said more events like this would come and warned people to avoid "large crowds and high traffic areas."

False flag events — historically defined as when a government stages an event to justify military action — have happened before. But, nowadays, conspiratorial claims of false flags routinely fly fast on social media after any mass casualty event.

PolitiFact has rebutted numerous baseless claims that events such as the Israel-Hamas war, a mass shooting at an Illinois parade, the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting, the Buffalo, New York, grocery store mass shooting, the Sandy Hook school shooting, and others were staged.

We will add this claim to the list. There’s no evidence that the Maryland bridge collapse is anything other than an accident, state and federal authorities said.

A container ship traveling at a fairly high speed lost power early in the morning as it was approaching the Francis Scott Key Bridge over the Patapsco River, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said at a March 26 news conference.

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The ship crashed into a pillar supporting the bridge, sending the structure into the water.

Moore said "the preliminary evidence points to an accident. We haven’t seen any evidence of a terrorist attack." William J. DelBagno, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Baltimore field office, said at the same news conference that there was "no specific or credible information to suggest that there are ties to terrorism in this incident."

In a brief statement on the bridge collapse, President Joe Biden said, "Everything so far indicates that this was a terrible accident. At this time we have no other indication, no other reason to believe there was any intentional act here."

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas  wrote on X that there are "no indications this was an intentional act." 

The bridge is a major artery to Baltimore that about 30,000 people use daily, Moore said.

Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld said an eight-person construction crew that was filling potholes on the bridge fell into the water. Two people survived and six people were unaccounted for, he said. It wasn’t clear whether people in vehicles that were on the bridge were also missing.

The claim that the accident was a false flag event to distract people is baseless. It’s Pants on Fire!