Authorities in Maryland on Tuesday evening paused their search and rescue mission at the site of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, as all six missing individuals who fell into the Patapsco River during the incident are presumed dead.
A Coast Guard cutter passes by a cargo ship that is stuck under the part of the structure of the ... [+]
Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath told reporters that based on the length of time put into the search and the Patapsco River’s water temperature, “we do not believe we will find any of these [six missing] individuals alive.”
Col. Roland L. Butler Jr, the superintendent of the Maryland State Police, then said the first responders would transition their mission from search and rescue to search and recovery.
Only surface ships will remain at the location overnight due to dangerous conditions and divers will only be able to return to the water early on Wednesday morning, Butler added.
No bodies have yet been recovered from the river and the six missing individuals have been identified as construction workers who were filling potholes on the bridge.
Earlier on Tuesday, the consulate of Guatemala in Maryland said two of the missing workers were citizens of its country, but did not share their names. The consul general visited the site of the incident and is assisting the families of the affected workers, the statement added. Another missing individual has been identified as Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, a citizen of Honduras. Citing the Honduran Deputy Foreign Minister Antonio García, the Associated Press reported the country’s government has contacted the missing worker’s family. Another missing worker was identified as Miguel Luna, a 49-year-old man of El Salvador origin who has been a Maryland resident for over 19 years. Luna’s wife María del Carmen Castellón told Telemundo they were still waiting for news about him and feel “devastated because our heart is broken, because we don’t know if they’ve rescued them yet.” Details about the other two missing workers are still unknown, although one of their colleagues, who was not involved in the incident, told the Baltimore Sun that all were of Hispanic descent.
All the missing workers were employees of Brawner Builders, the Maryland-based construction company’s executive vice president Jeffrey Pritzker confirmed. He added that one of the company’s workers survived the collapse, but it is unclear if he was one of the two people rescued by first responders shortly after the collapse.