lThe US authorities suspended rescue efforts for the six missing people this Tuesday. in the collapse of the Baltimore (Maryland) bridge when considering that they had already died after spending so many hours in the water.
“Based on the length of the search (…), the temperature of the water, at this time we do not believe that we will find these people alive,” said Vice Admiral Shannon Gilreath at a press conference.
The accident in Baltimore occurred around 1:30 a.m. local time, when The freighter Dali had a propulsion problem and ended up crashing into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, the largest in the state of Maryland.
In images captured by surveillance cameras you can see when the container ship crashes into a pillar of the bridgecausing the steel structure to fall in parts into the Patapsco River.
The ship issued a mayday call before colliding with the bridge, stopping traffic and saving several lives. However, six people remain missing and two were rescued in the morning, one of them with serious injuries.
What is known about the people presumed dead?
All six would be Latino
The authorities have not provided the identity or nationality of the six missing people, but their relatives have indicated to various local media and international agencies that These are Latin American citizens.
The six people worked for Brawner Builders, the company that was in charge of maintaining the bridge that collapsed after the crash.
Jesús Campos, a worker at said company, also told the local newspaper The Baltimore Sun that all of his colleagues were Hispanic and were in charge of “replacing the concrete on the bridge.”
Campos told the aforementioned newspaper that his co-workers affected by the tragedy They came from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras and that they had been working for the company for a significant amount of time.
NBC News also claimed that some of the workers had recently become parents.
“I personally know all the members of that team. They are all wonderful people. It's hard. “It has been a difficult morning,” Earl Schneider, of the construction company, told NBC.
The identity of one of the missing was confirmed by Casa, a group dedicated to migrant assistance. This is Miguel Luna, originally from El Salvador, who came to Baltimore 19 years ago and lived in the city with his wife and three children.
“He left at 6:30 pm (Monday) to go to work and did not return home.”
“He left at 6:30 pm (Monday) to go to work and did not return home,” said Nkeshi Free, Casa's deputy director of communications.
Another of the missing people was identified by the NBC network as Maynor Suazo, a citizen from Honduras. The network spoke with the missing man's brother, who assured that the family was informed about the immigrant's disappearance in the early hours of Tuesday.
“The hope we have is to be able to see the body… we want to see it, find it, know if it is dead because we don't know anything,” he said.
Guatemala also confirmed the presence of two compatriots in the accident, although it did not reveal the identity of the missing.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala issued a statement on Tuesday afternoon in which it assured that The two Guatemalan workers who are among the missing are two men aged 26 and 35, originating from the departments of Petén and Chiquimula, respectively.
“The Guatemalans were part of a total of eight workers who were repairing the asphalt on the bridge at the time of the accident. Two were rescued,” the Foreign Ministry indicated in the text.
Families are in 'shock'
Before learning of the stoppage of search and rescue efforts, this afternoon, the executive vice president of Brawner Builders, Jeffrey Pritzker, He stated that his employees were presumed dead.
“We have seven wonderful employees who were on the bridge when it collapsed, six of whom are presumed dead,” he said, as quoted by The Baltimore Sun.
They are demanding that they be given a response and that their expenses be covered, but above all they are in 'shock'
Until this afternoon, The Fire Department searched for the missing with sonar and underwater drones. There were also divers searching the lake to find people and vehicles that fell into the water.
According to CNN, the Patapsco River – into which the victims fell – is about 15 meters deep. Added to this is the fact that the water can reach very low temperatures. This morning, for example, the waters near the place where the bridge collapsed had temperatures between 7 and 8 degrees Celsius. Which complicated the rescue efforts and the survival of the missing in the area of the tragedy.
The authorities, for now, They have set up a meeting point near the port for families affected.
“They are demanding that they give them a response and that they cover their expenses, but above all they are in 'shock,'” he told Efe César Presidente, who knows the brothers of two unlocated employees who would be of Salvadoran origin.
The Mexican consulate in Washington DC also said in a statement that local authorities have not yet confirmed the nationalities of the victims but that they are working to provide support to any affected Mexican.
For now, the investigation into the case is already underway, although the FBI announced early on that there are no signs of a terrorist attack. The reconstruction, for its part, is expected to be long-lasting and expensive, although no figures have been outlined.
The bridge, which owes its name to the poet Francis Scott Key, author of the lyrics of the American anthem, is 2,632 meters long.
Authorities are also trying to analyze the damage caused to the bridge structure. “Not only will it be rebuilt, but it will be done in a way that remembers those affected by this tragedy,” Maryland Governor Wes Moore, a Democrat, told reporters.
It is a structure through which some 35,000 vehicles pass every day and through which key merchandise for the United States transits.
As reported this Wednesday by Moore's office, in 2023 alone more than 52 million tons of merchandise worth about $80 billion entered the United States through the Baltimore terminal.
At the time, The port has been paralyzed and only truck loading and unloading activity is allowed. The area is also blocked to traffic and to the press, which can only access about 1.6 kilometers away, from where you can see the blocked ship with its containers and the bridge cut short in the air.
*With AFP and EFE
#Search #suspended #missing #bridge #fall #Baltimore