USALife.info / NEWS / 2024 / 03 / 28 / TRAGIC BALTIMORE BRIDGE COLLAPSE CLAIMS LIVES OF FATHERS AND ENTREPRENEURS
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Tragic Baltimore Bridge Collapse Claims Lives of Fathers and Entrepreneurs

00:14 28.03.2024

Details have begun to emerge about some of the people who were missing after being plunged into the water when the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed on Tuesday. On Wednesday, divers worked through dangerous conditions searching for the bodies of the six missing men. Two were recovered from a submerged vehicle, and the other four are presumed dead, officials said. But the search was ended later in the day, after officials concluded that the other bodies were encased in the wreckage. Two people were pulled from the river alive shortly after the collapse. Here's what we know so far about the men, who were working as contractors doing overnight maintenance on the bridge: The two whose bodies were recovered on Wednesday were Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Baltimore, and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Dundalk, Md., authorities said. Miguel Luna, in his 40s, from El Salvador, is married and has three children, said Gustavo Torres, the executive director of the nonprofit CASA, which provides services to immigrants in Baltimore. He said Mr. Luna had been living in Maryland for at least 19 years. Maynor Yasir Suazo Sandoval, in his 30s, of Honduras, immigrated to the United States more than 17 years ago, according to Mr. Torres, and is married with two children. In a statement provided to The Times via CASA, Mr. Suazo's brother, Carlos, described him as having a special talent for repairing and operating all kinds of machinery, and said that he dreamed of starting his own small business. "He was always so full of joy, and brought so much humor to our family," Carlos Suazo said, noting that the family was planning to celebrate his brother's next birthday on April 27. All but one of the eight men worked for Brawner Builders, a contractor based in Baltimore County, the company said. The men who went missing after the collapse were all immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, according to consular authorities and the nonprofit. Kirsten Noyes contributed research. Eight construction workers filling potholes went into the cold water with two pulled to safety, reports Kelly Rissman. Six people who fell into the water after a massive container ship collided with Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge are presumed dead and the search for them has been suspended, says the US Coast Guard. Workers and vehicles were on the bridge when a cargo ship Dali slammed into the bridge around 1.30am ET on Tuesday morning, causing its total collapse. Two people have so far been rescued from the river - one of whom was in the hospital being treated for injuries. Still, more people are missing. Here's what we know about the victims of the Baltimore bridge collapse: "Hard-working, humble men". Little information has been revealed about those who have been rescued, found, and are still missing. At least six people remain unaccounted for, authorities said on Tuesday. Members of a construction crew, employed by contractor Brawner Builders, were refilling potholes when the incident occurred, officials said. Brawner Builders employee Jesus Campos told The Baltimore Banner that the missing individuals are all men in their 30s and 40s. They all have children and spouses, he said, and they are from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. "They are all hard-working, humble men," Mr Campos told the outlet. Jenny Luna also told the outlet that her father-in-law Miguel Luna was on the bridge when it crashed. She said she has yet to hear any updates about him. Construction boss doesn't think men could have survived. Jeffrey Pritzker, executive vice president of Brawner Builders, told the outlet that he does not believe the workers could have survived the shocking incident. "We"re presuming that they are not alive, because they were thrown into the bay in an area that's 50 feet deep, with 46-degree temperature, probably buried under tons of steel," Mr Pritzker said. "The company is in mourning and it's a terrible, unanticipated tragedy.". The Coast Guard told reporters at a Tuesday evening press conference that the search was paused at 7.30pm ET, and would resume on Wednesday morning as a recovery effort with divers being used to search for bodies. "I"d like to announce tonight that based on the length of time that we"ve gone in this search, the extensive search efforts we"ve put into it, the water temperature, that at this point we do not believe that we"re going to find any of these individuals still alive," said Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath. The announcement was made at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. Two bodies have been recovered from the Patapsco river, after six missing men went missing following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore. The announcement was made at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, held by personnel from the US Coast Guard, Maryland Department of Transportation and state Governor Wes Moore. Rescue operations were called off on Tuesday night when Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath said there was no hope of finding the men, who were working on the bridge at the time of the collision, alive due to the frigid water and the length of time since the accident. Colonel Roland L Butler, superintendent of the Maryland Department of State Police, confirmed the news during the press conference, adding that operations have now been reclassified from search and recovery, to "salvage recovery efforts". "The Maryland State Police along with the water recovery teams supported by state, local and federal partners made a tragic finding shortly before 10am," he said. "Divers located a red pickup truck submerged and approximately 25 feet of water in the area of the middle span of the bridge. Divers recovered two victims of this tragedy trapped within the vehicle.". The families of the two individuals have been informed. They were also named by Sup. Butler as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Baltimore, and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Dundalk - both construction workers. One of the individuals was identified by a driver's license in his pocket, and the other by a fingerprint, Sup. Butler said. He continued: "Knowing the gravity of this, we provided [the families] with a list of resources that they can refer to, and refer their friends and family to at this point. "Based upon the conditions we"re now moving from a recovery mode to a salvage operation because of the superstructure surrounding the vehicle, what we believe are the vehicles and the amount of concrete and debris, divers are no longer able to safely navigate or operate. "The areas around this wreckage, and based on sonar scans, we firmly believe that the vehicles are encased in the superstructure and concrete that we tragically saw come down.". Those presumed deceased are from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, according to authorities. Two survivors were previously pulled from the river. One was transported to a trauma unit and is in a serious condition, while the other had not reportedly suffered any injuries. Sonar technology has detected that multiple vehicles were also thrown off the bridge and submerged in the water. The exact cause of the crash in the early hours of Tuesday, which has been described by authorities as a "developing mass casualty incident," is still unknown. At around 1.30am ET local time, the Singapore-flagged vessel Dali rammed into a column on the Francis Scott Key Bridge, leading multiple parts of the 1.6 mile-long bridge to tumble into the water. It was just 30 minutes into its 27-day journey to Sri Lanka. The container ship is thought to have "lost propulsion" as it left Baltimore port, with the crew alerting Maryland officials they had lost control of the almost 300-metre-long vessel and that a collision was possible, ABC News reported. Governor Moore previously noted that this warning call saved lives. At Wednesday's briefing, Governor Moore said: "The collapse of the Key bridge is not just a Maryland crisis. The national economy and the global economy depends on the Port of Baltimore.". Baltimore city mayor Brandon Scott previously described the incident as an "unthinkable tragedy.". "We have to be thinking about the families and people impacted, folks who we have to try to find," Mr Scott said. "This is what our focus should be on right now, we"re going to continue to work in partnership with every part of government to do everything we can to get us through the other side of this tragedy.". They worked the overnight shift fixing potholes on a famed bridge that 30,000 Marylanders relied on every day. But their work ended in tragedy Tuesday morning when a 213-million-pound cargo vessel crashed into the bridge, plunging the construction workers into the dangerously cold water below. After a day-long search, officials called off the rescue mission and said the workers are presumed dead. It was virtually impossible to survive the frigid, 50-foot-deep water after several hours, and it was too dangerous for divers to navigate the dark water amid sharp debris. Now the families of the six victims are mourning their loved ones, whose bodies have not been found. These are some of their stories: A father of 2 who juggled multiple jobs. Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, 38, was one of the construction workers who vanished after the bridge collapse, his brother Martin Suazo told CNN. Family members in Baltimore called Martin Suazo early Tuesday morning to tell him his brother was missing, Suazo said. Maynor Suazo was originally from Santa Barbara in Honduras but moved to the US in search of a better life, his brother said. Maynor had lived in the US for the past 18 years. He was married with.

/ Thursday, March 28, 2024, 12:14 PM /

themes:  Immigrants  Mexico  Maryland

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