The Tuesday morning collapse the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore has left six workers missing. After a day of US Coast Guard search and rescue operations, these workers are now presumed dead. The effort to recover their bodies are ongoing.
A cargo ship struck the span on Tuesday morning shortly after it departed the Port of Baltimore after the ship radioed the port to report that they had lost steering control. According to officials, eight workers on the bridge went missing at the time of the incident. Two of those workers were rescued shortly after the bridge collapsed. One of them was uninjured, the other was rushed to the University of Maryland’s Medical Center, where her was treated and discharged.
The six missing men were employees of Brawner Builders, and were filling potholes on the bridge’s center span when the collapse occurred. According to The Baltimore Banner, the men originally hailed from Honduras, Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador, and resided in Highlandtown and Dundalk at the time of their presumed death. The one from El Salvador has been identified as Miguel Luna, husband and father of three, who has lived in Maryland for nearly twenty years.
Two of the men from Guatemala were confirmed by Guatemala’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be married with children. One was identified as Dorlian Cabera.
Antonio Garcia, the Honduran Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, told the associated press that he was in contact with the family of the missing Honduran citizen Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval.
A Brawner Builders representative characterized the missing men as humble and hard-working.
According to Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath, the Coast Guard is sending divers to scour the sea floor around the disaster site in an effort to recover the bodies. Based on the water temperature, the time since the disaster, and the thoroughness of the search, the chances of finding anyone left alive are close to zero.
