Authorities said eight people were on the Francis Scott Key Bridge at the time of the collision. Two of them were rescued from the water: one of them is doing well, the other is in hospital in serious condition. The six others are also workers from the company Brawner Builders, who were filling holes on the bridge. Two of them were from Guatemala, others from Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador. This mainly concerns people in their thirties and forties. A 26-year-old and a 35-year-old from Guatemala are still missing.
The emergency services made no secret of the fact on Tuesday evening that there is hardly any hope for them. “Given how long we’ve been searching, the effort we’ve put in and the temperature of the water, we don’t believe we’re going to find anyone alive,” said Admiral Shannon Gilreath.
“Given how long we’ve been searching and the temperature of the water, we don’t believe we’ll find anyone alive.”
Shannon Gilreath
Admiral
Waiting anxiously
One of the missing is the 49-year-old Miguel Luna from El Salvador, a married father of three who has lived in Maryland for 19 years and worked for the company for 15 years. He had left for work at 6:30 PM on Monday evening and ended up in the water when the bridge collapsed.
(read more below the photo)
Miguel Luna. — © Facebook
A family member testified Sky news that it is a matter of waiting anxiously, and that everyone is very worried. On TV channel Telemundo 44 The missing man’s wife, Maria del Carmen Castellon, said Tuesday evening that she is not receiving any information. “We are just told to wait. We are in shock because our hearts are broken. We don’t know if they were saved. We just wait.”
(Read more below the photo)
Emergency services immediately started looking for missing workers, but for some victims that was in vain. — © EPA-EFE
Luna’s son, Marvin, had heard from friends about what happened on the bridge while his father was working there. “I called him immediately, but there was no answer,” he said on Tuesday evening, when there was still hope The Washington Post. “We don’t know anything yet. But we keep waiting.”
Another victim is from Azacualpa, Honduras. It’s about Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval. That is a 38-year-old married man who, his brother Martin told CNN, has lived in the US for 18 years and, in addition to his work for Brawner Builders, also has his own construction company. He has an 18 year old son. “We still had hope at first,” says Martin. “But now we just hope that his body can be found. Then we can close this and give him a nice farewell.”
“We hope that my brother’s body can be found. Then we can close this and give him a nice farewell”
Martin Suazo Sandoval
Victim’s brother
Seek a better life
Jose Campos, a colleague of the two men, told The Baltimore Banner that his boss had called him in the morning. “They then told me that they had saved one of my colleagues, but that he was in a coma. I could never have imagined that something so terrible could happen. Where that ship was sailing would normally be a safe zone.”
(Read more below the photo)
Jesus Campos (center). — © AFP
According to Campos, all the victims came to the US hoping to have a better life than in their home country. “They are all hard-working and humble men,” he said. Another colleague of the workers testified to local media that he understood that at least some of his colleagues were on a break and in their truck at the time of the collision.
Three times over the bridge
The fact that there were no more victims is due to the cold-blooded actions of local police officers. They immediately closed the roads leading to the bridge when they received the alarm signal. As a result, no one could get on it and no one could end up with the car in the water.
(Read more below the photo)
The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed like a house of cards. — © EPA-EFE
The one who narrowly escaped death was Jayden, the son of local resident Jen Woof. He drove over the bridge four times just before the incident, the last time just three minutes before the bridge collapsed. He had driven to his girlfriend on the other side of the bridge to spend the night, but after an argument he returned, according to his mother. Feeling guilty, he drove over the bridge again. He was then sent away again by his love and returned home. Three minutes later the ship hit the bridge.
“He was almost at our house when his girlfriend texted him to ask if he was okay,” says Jen TheTelegraph. “He came into my house in a panic, called me and showed me a video of the bridge.”
