Following the tragic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, recovery teams found bodies in the Patapsco River, plunging families of the missing into grief.
"Divers located two victims inside the vehicle," stated Col. Roland Butler, Jr., head of Maryland State Police, during a press briefing on Wednesday.
The victims were identified as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, from Mexico, and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, from Guatemala. The men were discovered on Wednesday morning in a red pickup truck submerged in water approximately 25 feet deep.
The Key Bridge was a vital part of Baltimore's infrastructure, spanning the Patapsco River with four lanes over a 1.6-mile stretch, catering to around 30,000 commuters daily. The collapse occurred early Tuesday when a large container ship, departing from the nearby Port of Baltimore, lost power and collided with one of the bridge's support columns. This impact led to the complete breakdown of the structure, sending individuals and vehicles into the water.
Everyone on the bridge at the time of the collapse was part of a construction crew filling potholes along the span. The bridge had been open to traffic through the night, but, minutes before the ship struck that column at around 1:30 a.m., officials said the crew onboard issued a mayday call that gave Maryland responders enough time to block drivers from entering the span.
Ahead of the collapse, police can be heard on scanner traffic discussing the possibility of construction workers on the bridge.
"If there's a crew up there, you might want to notify whoever the foreman is and see if we can get them off the bridge temporarily," says the dispatcher in audio from a Maryland Transportation Authority Police channel, which was shared on the website Broadcastify.
Two people were rescued from the river shortly after the collapse. One was unharmed, while the other was hospitalized with injuries and later released.
The bodies recovered Wednesday were only two of six people that remained missing. After reviewing sonar scans, officials say they firmly believe the four whose bodies have not yet been found are likely trapped inside vehicles encased in rubble underwater, conditions too dangerous to dive in.
Among those still missing is Miguel Luna, a father of three who came to the United States 19 years ago from El Salvador in search of a better life. The 40-year-old left for work at 6:30 p.m. on Monday to fill potholes on the bridge.
"He was expected to return home in the morning, but he never did," stated Gustavo Torres, the executive director of CASA, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating for immigrant communities.
The eldest brother of Sandoval expressed that their family is enduring "tremendous agony."
Father Ako Walker, a priest from Baltimore, has been offering solace to the grieving families.
"They were out there working, making sacrifices for their families. Unfortunately, they may have made the ultimate sacrifice," Walker remarked about the victims.
Immigrants account for nearly 40% of construction workers in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., metropolitan areas. Local authorities and advocates for workers, who have been communicating with CBS News on-site, suggest that the same community will likely be relied upon to reconstruct the Key Bridge.
