The day after the catastrophic collapse francis scott key bridge two in baltimore the body was recovered Families of those missing and presumed dead in the Patapsco River spill are grieving in the aftermath.
“Divers rescued the two victims of this tragedy who were trapped inside the vehicle,” Maryland State Police Superintendent Col. Roland Butler Jr. said at a press conference Wednesday.
Maryland State Police identified the two victims as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Mexico, and Dorrian Lonial Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Guatemala. Divers found the men Wednesday morning inside a red pickup truck submerged in water about 8 meters deep.
key bridge Early Tuesday morning, a large container ship that had just left the nearby Port of Baltimore lost power and collided with one of its pillars, sending the entire structure into the water and collapsing as people and vehicles were also involved. .
Everyone who was on the bridge at the time of the collapse member of the construction crew Fill holes along the span. The bridge remained open to traffic throughout the night, but crews issued a mayday call minutes before the ship hit the bridge pillars around 1:30 a.m., and Maryland responders were able to stop the driver from crossing the bridge. officials said, giving them enough time to stop them from entering.
Prior to the collapse, police can be heard on scanner traffic discussing the possibility of construction workers on the bridge.
“If you have crew members there, please notify the foreman and see if they can temporarily remove them from the bridge,” a dispatcher said in audio from the Maryland Department of Transportation's Police Channel. The audio was shared on the website Broadcastify. .
Two persons rescued from the river Immediately after the collapse. One person was uninjured, but the other was hospitalized with injuries but was later released.
Only two of the bodies were recovered Wednesday. 6 people remain missing. After reviewing sonar scans, officials believe the four people whose bodies have not yet been found are likely trapped in a vehicle surrounded by underwater debris, making the situation too dangerous to jump into. He said that
Among those still missing is Miguel Luna, a father of three who came to the United States from El Salvador 19 years ago in search of a better life. The 40-year-old man went to work at 6:30 on Monday evening.
“He's supposed to be back in the morning, but he never comes,” said Gustavo Torres, executive director of CASA, a nonprofit human rights group that advocates for immigrant communities.
Another missing employee, Mayor Yasir Suazo Sandoval, was days away from celebrating his 35th birthday when the bridge collapsed. Sandoval, described as the light of his family, leaves behind his teenage son and 5-year-old daughter. He was recognized as a Honduran national by Honduran Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Garcia.
Sandoval's eldest brother said the family was in “tremendous pain.”
Father Ako Walker, a priest in Baltimore, is mourning with his family.
“They were out working, making sacrifices for their families, and unfortunately, they may have made the ultimate sacrifice,” Walker said of the victims.
Moises Diaz, 45, a construction worker at Browner Builders, told CBS News he was scheduled to work but swapped shifts. He knew all the victims and is mourning his colleagues who were like family to him. “We shared food, we shared everything,” he said in an interview in Spanish.
Immigrants make up nearly 40 percent of the construction workforce in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., metropolitan areas. Local officials and labor advocates who spoke to CBS News on the ground say the same communities will likely be relied upon to rebuild Key Bridge.