Baltimore bridge collapse: What we know about six presumed dead

A giant cargo ship crashed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge early Tuesday morning, causing the bridge to collapse and six construction workers to be presumed dead.

Around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, the container ship MV Dali struck one of the bridge’s main supports, sending the entire main span and three adjacent spans into the Patapsco River.

The Coast Guard on Tuesday night ended an 18-hour search and rescue operation for six missing construction workers who were repairing a hole in the bridge when it collapsed.

Two more workers were rescued from the water, one with serious injuries and the other uninjured, Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace said.

Here’s what we know about the victim:

The victim was an employee of Browner Builders.

Jeffrey Pritzker, vice president of Brauner Construction, said Tuesday that six employees working on the bridge were presumed dead and one injured, the Associated Press reported.

“This was totally unexpected,” Pritzker said. “I don’t know what else to say. We take great pride in our safety and we have cones, signs, lights, fences and beacons. But we never thought the bridge would collapse. I wasn’t expecting that at all.”

All the bridge workers have families and are between the ages of 45 and 60, said company employee Jesús Campos.

“When he told me that, I thought of them and prayed to God that nothing happened to them,” Campos told The Associated Press in Spanish.

“It’s so hard to explain. I know I was there a month ago, too, and I know how it feels when the trailers go by. You know it’s falling. “Imagine that. It’s so difficult that you don’t know what to do,” Campos said.

The Hill has contacted the company for more information.

The six victims are of different nationalities.

Diplomats and local nonprofit groups said the victims were from Honduras, Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador.

Embassy of Mexico in the United States stated in a statement The six missing workers include Mexicans, Guatemalans and Salvadorans.

CASA, a nonprofit organization that works with immigrant families, identified Miguel Luna as one of the victims of the bridge collapse. The organization said Luna, a father of three, is originally from El Salvador and has called Maryland home for 19 years.

“Unfortunately, one of the construction workers involved turned out to be a long-time member of the CASA family, adding further sadness to an already dire situation,” said CASA Executive Director Gustavo Torres. in a statement.

Maryland’s governor said he had spoken with the family.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, said he had spoken with the families of the victims and announced the state’s flags would be lowered to half-staff on Tuesday.

“The hearts of all Marylanders are with the families of those affected by the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse. “We promised to deliver,” he said. I wrote to Xformerly Twitter.

The Associated Press contributed.