The six construction workers who were on the Key Bridge in Baltimore when it collapsed are presumed dead, authorities said Tuesday evening, ending a day-long rescue mission in cold and murky waters.
Gustavo Torres, the executive director of the Latino and immigrant organization Casa, said Luna was a father of three from El Salvador and “a longtime member of our Casa family, adding an even deeper layer of sorrow to this already grievous situation.”
It remained unclear Tuesday evening how many vehicles were submerged in the water and how many other victims were killed or injured in the disaster. Emergency responders rescued two other workers from the water early Tuesday, one uninjured and the other who authorities said was in “very serious condition.” One was an employee with Brawner Builders.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) said he spoke to one of the victims and called his survival “pretty miraculous.”
Col. Roland L. Butler Jr., secretary of the Maryland State Police, said Tuesday evening that it was a “distinct possibility” that other motorists were on the bridge at the time of the collapse, and they would also be presumed dead. He said divers will return to the waters at 6 a.m. Wednesday for a recovery operation.
The chief spokesman for the Baltimore Fire Department, Kevin Cartwright, called the water-rescue-and-recovery effort the city’s largest in a decade and warned earlier in the day that the number of victims could exceed six.
“This is herculean,” Cartwright said. “We are going to work and work and work until we bring this to a close and bring some peace to the families.”
The collision occurred about 1:28 a.m. Tuesday, minutes after the container ship Dali lost power. Crew members aboard the vessel issued a “mayday” warning, which allowed Maryland Transportation Authority police to begin to stop traffic before the crash. Recordings from the transportation authority police radio published by Broadcastify, an open-source audio-streaming service, show officers discussing the workers on the bridge and plans to notify the foreman. But within about 20 seconds, before an officer could drive across the bridge and deliver the news, the structure plummeted into the water.
Jeffrey Pritzker, the executive vice president of Brawner Builders, said in a brief telephone interview that the bridge collapse was “a totally unforeseen event which no one could have predicted.”
“The company is upset, families are distressed, this is a terrible tragedy,” he said. “I don’t know what more I can say.”
He said company executives had spent “a great deal of time” Tuesday comforting the workers’ families. Pritzker declined to share any more information on their identities but said the men were “good family people.”
Marvin Luna, son of Miguel Luna, said he knew his father was on the Key Bridge overnight but did not know it had collapsed until friends called him and said, “The bridge is … gone.”
Marvin Luna then called his father, but no one answered the phone. On Tuesday evening, he was at home in Glen Burnie, Md., desperate for news about his dad.
“We’re okay right now because we don’t know yet, nothing about my dad,” Marvin Luna said. “But we still wait.”
Around him, relatives wailed.
As the hours passed Tuesday, with the ship still lodged between pieces of the disintegrated bridge, community members and officials alike grew increasingly anxious for news of victims or survivors. Guatemalan and Salvadoran consulates publicized emergency hotlines on Facebook. Politicians, including President Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, pledged support for families still waiting on news.
One Baltimore City Council member, Phylicia Porter, further heightened anxiety by saying on CNN that a body had been recovered, only to later clarify that she was given wrong information and meant to refer to a bag of fertilizer.
Meanwhile, in a Royal Farms convenience store parking lot near Fort Armistead Park, Jesus Campos, an employee at Brawner Builders, paced, waiting for news about his colleagues.
Campos said in Spanish that working on the bridge is harrowing. Construction crews are continually worried about speeding motorists, and the bridge “moves a lot” because of its design and engineering. Last year, six road construction workers were killed when a motorist barreled into them along a busy highway in Baltimore County.
“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,” Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, a Baltimore-based immigrant services nonprofit, said in a statement.
Campos said his colleagues had been on a meal break, sitting in or near their vehicles, when the Dali slammed into the bridge.
Campos said he was not working Monday night but was roused from bed about 5 a.m. Tuesday by a colleague. The co-worker told him two people had been rescued from the water but that six others were missing.
“I’m very sad right now,” Campos said. “These are my co-workers and friends.”
As the sun set Tuesday, officials and residents gathered to pray inside a church in Turner Station, a neighborhood near the foot of where the Key Bridge once stood.
Throughout the hour-long service, clergy and elected officials tried to stay upbeat, discussing the power of community in times of tragedy. But with hope running dry that anyone else might be rescued from the waters, the Rev. Ako Walker of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Baltimore offered prayers in Spanish, honoring the missing workers, who are said to be immigrants from Latin America.
“Te pedimos por las victimas de este tragedia. Te pedimos por sus familias.”
“We pray for the victims of this tragedy. We pray for their families.”
Scott Dance, Erin Cox, Maria Sacchetti and Peter Hermann contributed to this report.
