Authorities have recovered the bodies of two people from a red pickup truck that was submerged under the water where the Baltimore bridge collapsed after a ship hit it on Tuesday.
The authorities identified the men as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, a 35-year-old originally from Mexico and living in Baltimore, and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, who was from Guatemala and was living in Dundalk, Maryland, reported The Guardian.
The bodies were recovered from the van located in Patapsco River over which the bridge was present.
Four other missing people could not be located and are presumed dead.
The workers on the bridge, six in total, came from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, authorities told The Guardian.
The ship was carrying 22 Indian crew members
The crew members of the ship which hit the 47-year-old Francis Scott Key Bridge were Indian.
The Singapore-flagged container ship “Dali”, which is owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd, was on its way to Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo.
A Singapore government press release issued yesterday said: “The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) confirms the incident of a Singapore-registered vessel’s collision with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, on 26 March 2024 at about 1:30pm (Singapore Time). The vessel, Dali, is a 95,000 GT container vessel operating with 22 crew on-board at the time of the incident. MPA is in contact with the US Coast Guard and the ship management company to provide the necessary assistance. As the flag state, MPA will provide full cooperation to the US Coast Guard in its investigations. MPA will also be investigating the incident.”
Crowdfunding
Latino Racial Justice Circle, a non-profit organisation serving the Baltimore area, initiated a crowdfunding campaign to assist the families of the victims of the bridge collapse tragedy.
“WOW! We cannot believe the response we got today. Thank you to everyone who donated to this fundraiser. This morning we set a goal of raising $18,000, and within less than nine hours we raised more than more than $98,000. The community response was truly amazing, and this is why we love Baltimore,” read the Gofundme page.
How did the incident hit jobs?
Describing the incident as a ‘global crisis’, Maryland Governor Wes Moore said 8,000 jobs could be affected due to the bridge collapse.
“The national economy and global economy depends on the port,” he was quoted as saying by BBC, noting that $80bn (£63.4bn) of cargo moved through there last year.