The six men presumed dead in the Baltimore bridge collapse on Tuesday all appeared to be construction workers originally from Latin American countries, according to reports, including a father of three, Miguel Luna, from El Salvador, as authorities said they had recovered the black box recorder from the ship.
Since the container ship Dali crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge after losing power early on Tuesday morning, six members of a construction crew filling potholes on the major bridge are now presumed to be dead, according to state officials.
Two of the victims were identified on Wednesday after their submerged pickup truck was recovered from the waters near the bridge. Authorities named them as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, originally from Mexico and living in Baltimore, and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, who was from Guatemala and living in Dundalk, Maryland.
The immigrant services non-profit We Are Casa confirmed that Luna, 49, had lived in Maryland for at least 19 years.
“He is a husband, a father of three, and has called Maryland his home for over 19 years,” its executive director, Gustavo Torres, said in a statement. Luna’s son Marvin told the Washington Post he knew his father was on the bridge but he had not heard of the tragedy until friends called him.
Speaking to Telemundo 44, Luna’s wife, María del Carmen Castellón, said: “They only tell us that we have to wait, that for now, they can’t give us information … [We feel] devastated, devastated because our heart is broken, because we don’t know if they’ve rescued them yet. We’re just waiting to hear any news.”
Another victim was named as Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval. Originally from Azacualpa in Honduras, 38-year-old Sandoval had lived in the US for the last 18 years, his brother Martín Suazo told CNN.
According to Suazo, Sandoval was married and had an 18-year old son and a five-year-old daughter. His brother added that Sandoval moved to the US for better opportunities and had launched his own maintenance business.
In a post on Facebook, a relative named Marina Maldonado Villeda wrote: “Maynor Suazo, our friend, relative and neighbor originally from Azacualpa, Santa Barbara, is missing after an accident occurred in the early hours of Tuesday, which caused the destruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore in the United States. Maynor is a guy with warmth and quality of people, entrepreneur with a vision and mission to serve our community.
“We wish with our hearts that he is alive, Our prayers to see you again and continue to enjoy your joy and enthusiasm. We hug you with the Suazo Sandoval family,” Villeda added.
The foreign affairs ministry of Guatemala confirmed that two of the workers were nationals, though it did not name them. It said the Guatemalan consul general had spoken with family members.
The ministry said the two people were 26 and 35, originally from San Luis, Petén, and Camotán, Chiquimula, respectively.
Speaking to reporters, the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said that a total of three Mexican nationals were working on the bridge when it collapsed. He added that one was rescued alive while two others remained missing.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the Mexican foreign ministry said that the person who was rescued was originally from Michoacán and was recovering from his injuries. The two people who are missing are originally from Veracruz and Michoacán, the ministry said.
Jesús Campos, a construction worker, said he knew the missing crew members and that they were all from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico. “It’s a difficult situation,” he said, speaking through a translator. “My friends were working on that bridge.”
Campos said the men all worked for the construction company, Brawner Builders, where he himself had worked for eight months – including on the overnight shift, until he was transferred to daytime hours one month ago.
He said the workers were low-income immigrants who used their wages to support family members in the US and abroad.
The contractor is based in Baltimore county, a senior executive said on Tuesday. “They were wonderful family people,” the executive, Jeffrey Pritzker, told the New York Times. “It’s just a very, very bad day.”
A crowdfunding campaign set up by the Latino Racial Justice Circle, a non-profit organization serving the Baltimore area, had raised over $47,000 for the victims’ families as of Wednesday afternoon. The funds will be distributed across the families and will be put towards basic needs including rent, groceries and utilities, the campaign said.
A National Transportation Safety Board team boarded the Dali on Tuesday night, its chair, Jennifer Homendy, told CNN, where they retrieved the data recorder as part of an investigation into what happened and when.
The Wall Street Journal reported sources saying the investigation would explore whether contaminated fuel played a role in the incident, though no evidence has yet been cited to suggest that.
Maryland remains in a state of emergency.
