The six construction workers presumed dead after a major Baltimore bridge collapsed early Tuesday were hardworking fathers and family men from Mexico and Central America, according to officials and distraught loved ones.
The men were fixing potholes on the roadbeds of the Francis Key Scott Bridge when a huge tanker crashed into it just before 1:30 a.m., sending the 1.6-mile-long structure — and everyone on it — into the cold waters of the Patapsco River below.
Two workers were saved from the river while six others remain missing as the Coast Guard called off the search and rescue mission Tuesday night after telling reporters it doesn’t believe it’ll find any of them still alive.
“They’re fathers with families. They’re people who came to earn their bread each day,” their grieving co-worker Jesus Campos, who was not on the bridge, told the Wall Street Journal of the missing men.
So far, Miguel Luna and Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval have been the only two identified among the half-dozen presumed dead, according to reports.
And the death toll could be higher than those six, as Maryland State Police officials warned it’s possible that motorists were also on the bridge when it tumbled into the Patapsco. Divers will resume their search at 6 a.m. Wednesday to look for bodies.
The six known victims — who all worked for Brawner Builders — originally hailed from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico, according to officials from the different countries.
Suazo, 37, arrived in the United States in 2003 from Honduras and started working for the construction company last year, the Journal reported.
His brother, Carlos Suazo, said his loved one, the youngest of eight siblings, was cheerful and chatty and loved to host others. He would have a packed home every Christmas, Suazo told the publication.
“For my mom, I think this is the worst information she has ever received,” Carlos said while showing a photo of another brother in Honduras consoling their mother. “Maynor was her baby, the spoiled one.”
The family had not yet told Maynor’s 5-year-old daughter, Alexa, that her father was likely not coming home Tuesday night.
“She was glued to her dad. Her dad was everything to her,” Carlos told the Journal. “They haven’t told her anything. Just that her dad hasn’t arrived.”
Everything you need to know about the Francis Scott Key Bridge's collapse in Baltimore
- The Dali, the Singapore-flagged container ship that smashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore and destroyed it early Tuesday, reportedly lost propulsion and tried to warn officials that it was going to crash, according to a report.
- Six people were unaccounted for, according to authorities. Two people were pulled from the river by rescuers.
- Seven vehicles were missing after falling from the 1.6-mile-long span. Officials are using sonar technology to find the vehicles.
- Videos show power on the ship flickering off, and then on again, shortly before the crash. Watch footage of the bridge’s collapse here.
- A Baltimore resident described how the horrifying collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge early Tuesday caused his entire house to feel like it was falling down.
- The Dali was also involved in a collision while leaving the Port of Antwerp, Belgium, in 2016.
Follow along with The Post’s coverage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore.
Miguel Luna, 49, who worked for Brawner for 14 years, was a married dad of six children originally from El Salvador.
His wife received a call at 3 a.m. about the bridge collapse from a company rep.
“The only thing we want is for them to be found and to come home with us,” Carmen Luna del Carmen Castellón told the Journal before it was announced the six missing workers were presumed dead.
While access to the disaster zone is restricted, family members like Castellón were given access while they waited for news.
“They only tell us that we have to wait, that for now, they can’t give us information,” she told Telemundo 44.
“[We feel] devastated, devastated because our heart is broken because we don’t know if they’ve rescued them yet.
Luna would have soon welcomed a new grandchild, according to footage of a gender reveal shared with the TODAY Show.
Another two men, ages 26 and 35, are from Guatemala but were not identified by the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Campos — who had previously worked construction on that bridge for Brawner Builders with some of the missing workers but was not on shift when the disaster happened — said he heard the crew was on their break, with some sitting in their trucks when the cargo ship collided with the bridge.
He said he and other Brawner workers spent the majority of Tuesday trying to call their missing co-workers. Not one picked up.
The Rev. Ako Walker, a Catholic priest, said a prayer for the men at a vigil attended by the families of the missing workers during the day as they anxiously waited for updates.
“You can see the pain etched on their faces,” Walker said.
The news of the deaths ricocheted among the Spanish-speaking and immigrant communities of Baltimore.
“This catastrophe has already disproportionately impacted our city’s immigrant community, one that often toils in demanding and dangerous jobs to the benefit of all who call Baltimore home,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of local immigrant services nonprofit Global Refuge.
It’s unclear if more people might have fallen into the water when the bridge went down.
Col. Roland Butler Jr., secretary of the Maryland State Police, called it a “distinct possibility” that other drivers were on the bridge and they would also be presumed dead, the Washington Post reported.
Crew members onboard the Sri Lanka-bound container ship said the vessel had lost all power as it neared the Key Bridge and issued a mayday call as it was unable to stop.
Maryland Transportation Authority officials who heard the call stopped motorists from driving over the bridge before the collision but weren’t able to evacuate the workers in time.
A transportation authority officer had planned to drive onto the bridge to warn them, but the steel structure crumbled and plunged into the water within about 20 seconds, according to a recording of their radio calls.
With Post wires
