2024-04-01 23:39:18
By Jim Watson
This Wednesday, divers found the bodies of two workers, one Mexican and one Guatemalan, among the six Latin Americans presumed dead in the cold waters of the port of Baltimore after the collapse of a bridge on the east coast of the United States.
They were locked inside “a red truck submerged approximately 25 feet,” about 7.5 meters deep, Colonel Roland Bulter, superintendent of the Maryland State Police, reported at a press conference.
These are the Mexican Alejandro Hernández Fuentes, 35 years old, and the Guatemalan Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26 years old, precisely.
Sonar shows vehicles trapped in the steel and concrete debris of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
The structure cascaded over the bow of the ship “MV Dali” after hitting the infrastructure, blocking one of the busiest commercial ports in the United States.
The ship issued a distress call moments before the collision, prompting police to rush to cut off traffic on the bridge. This probably saved lives.
But there was no possibility of evacuating the eight workers who were repairing potholes on the highway from the bridge.
Two were rescued from the waters of the Patapsco River moments after the collapse. One was uninjured and the other was released from the hospital Wednesday, Butler said.
The other four workers are believed to be dead.
Since it is not safe for divers to enter the tangle of shattered beams and pylons, police announced at the press conference that they will return to search for the remaining bodies once the debris has been removed.
Police have confirmed that the construction workers presumed dead are from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
“They are all humble and hard-working men,” said Jesús Campos, a colleague of the eight workers from the Brawner Builders company.
One of the missing is Miguel Luna, a father of three who went out to work on Monday night and did not return. He is Salvadoran, confirmed the Foreign Minister of El Salvador, Alexandra Hill, on the social network X.
– “Come out, come out” –
The ship remains “stable,” Coast Guard Vice Admiral Peter Gautier told reporters at the White House.
He added that the crew, mostly Indian, remained on board and is cooperating with the investigation.
The National Transportation Safety Board, a federal authority, claimed to have recovered the ship’s black box, which is very useful for investigators to clarify what happened.
Gautier insisted that the presence of the damaged ship in the port does not represent an environmental hazard, despite the billion and a half gallons of oil and dozens of cargo containers of hazardous materials on board.
Two other containers, out of a total of 4,700, were lost overboard, he said.
The ship’s crew tried to stop by dropping anchor but to no avail.
«The entire bridge just collapsed! Get out, get out… everyone…” an operator shouted in the seconds after the collapse.
– Reconstruction –
The “MV Dali”, a 300-meter long ship flying the Singapore flag, was sailing towards Sri Lanka. She is operated by the shipping company Synergy Group and was chartered by the Danish shipping giant Maersk.
According to the Port of Singapore Authority, the ship has passed two inspections in 2023 and a faulty fuel pressure monitoring gauge was repaired in June.
With access to the port blocked by debris, maritime transport is suspended until further notice.
President Joe Biden promised that the bridge, inaugurated in 1977 and named after the author of the lyrics of the American national anthem, would be rebuilt.
To get ahead of the insurers and save time, Biden wants “the federal State to pay the entire cost of reconstruction.”
Because this four-lane, 2.6-kilometer-long bridge is located on a crucial north-south axis for the economy of the east coast of the United States.
The Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, mentioned this Wednesday “four key areas: reopening the port, managing the implications for the supply chain (…), rebuilding the bridge and managing road traffic.”
“Rebuilding will not be quick, easy or cheap,” he added.
Ryan Sweet, chief economist at Oxford Economics, explained to AFP that “there will be disruptions in the supply chain” but does not foresee macroeconomic effects “because there are many major ports very close to Baltimore.”
bur-seb/ube/juf/lch/pz/llu-erl/flour
© Agence France-Presse