A search for the six construction workers who are presumed dead following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore resumed Wednesday morning as details are emerging about their identities and the families they leave behind.
One of the missing Brawner Builders employees has been identified by Telemundo Washington D.C. as 49-year-old Miguel Luna of El Salvador, whose relatives say has six children. Two Guatemalans aged 26 and 35 are also unaccounted for, according to the country’s foreign ministry, and a colleague has told The Associated Press that he was informed the six were sitting in their trucks during a break at the time of the disaster.
“It is so hard for me to describe. I know that a month ago I was there, and I know what it feels like when the trailers pass. Imagine knowing that it is falling. It is so hard, one would not know what to do,” Brawner Builders employee Jesus Campos said.
Also among the missing are people from Honduras and Mexico, diplomats say. The Honduran man was identified as Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandova, The Associated Press reports.
LIVE UPDATES: BALTIMORE BRIDGE COLLAPSE
Operators of the Dali cargo ship had issued a mayday call that the vessel had lost power moments before the crash, but the ship still headed toward the span at “a very, very rapid speed,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said Tuesday.
The 985-foot-long vessel struck one of the 1.6-mile-long bridge’s supports, causing the span to break and fall into the water within seconds.
An emergency responder could be heard on dispatch audio mentioning that construction workers had been operating on the bridge during the collapse, and an “unknown amount of those workers [were] in the water.” That prompted a call for a dive team.
DISPATCH FROM EMERGENCY RESPONDERS CAPTURES MOMENT BALTIMORE’S KEY BRIDGE COLLAPSED
The Guatemalan Foreign Ministry later said in a statement that “Two Guatemalans, 26 and 35 years old, originally from San Luis, Petén and Camotán, Chiquimula, respectively; are missing after the accident that occurred early this Tuesday, March 26, when a cargo ship lost control on the Patapsco River, colliding with the Francis Scott Key Bridge.”
“The Guatemalans were part of a total of eight workers who were repairing the asphalt on the bridge at the time of the accident,” it added. “Two men were rescued, but one of them is in critical condition.”
The ministry also said it has made contact with the brothers of the two missing.
Fox News’ Bradford Betz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
