Baltimore bridge victims: Officials confirm 2 bodies recovered
BALTIMORE, Md. - Officials have announced that two people have been recovered from the Patapsco River following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge Tuesday.
They have been identified as 35-year-old Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes of Baltimore and 26-year-old Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera of Dundalk.
Maryland State Police Colonel Roland L. Butler, Jr. said that the construction workers' bodies were found inside a red pickup about 25 feet down.
Dive teams are continuing the search for four other victims. All are presumed dead.
The bridge was hit by a large container ship around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. The vessel hit a pillar, causing the bridge to snap. Shocking video showed the structure sink into the Patapsco River in seconds, plunging a crew of eight construction workers into the frigid waters.
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Two of the workers were quickly rescued — one of whom was taken to the hospital for treatment and was released Wednesday, and another who refused treatment.
The search and rescue mission was suspended at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, about 18 hours after the collapse. At that time, Coast Guard officials announced that they did not expect to find the remaining six victims alive.
The search resumed at 6 a.m. Wednesday, now declared a recovery mission. Divers once again worked throughout the afternoon and Gov. Wes Moore spoke with FOX 5 to provide an update on their search for the victims.
"These are difficult conditions. We're talking about very frigid temperatures with high winds, and extraordinary darkness and trying to navigate mangled metal," Moore said.
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Officials still have not confirmed if there are any other suspected victims but did say that sonar indicated several vehicles were in the water following the collapse.
The Associated Press reported that a truck was recovered around 10:30 a.m. That's according to a Homeland Security memo that was described to The Associated Press by a law enforcement official. AP says the official was not authorized to discuss details of the document or the investigation and spoke to them on the condition of anonymity.
Any vehicles that did plunge into the river could possibly belong to the workers who were filling potholes when the crash happened.
The tragic outcome was revealed around 6:30 p.m.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the FBI's Underwater Search and Evidence Response Team, the Maryland State Police Department, Baltimore County Fire and Rescue, the Baltimore City Fire Department, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the U.S. Coast Guard have members looking for people.
According to the NTSB, the Coast Guard led the efforts with several units out on the water since around 4 a.m. Tuesday.
Moore commended first responders and their relentless efforts to recover the bodies and bring some closure to the families of the victims.
"The work that these folks are doing on our behalf right now is extraordinary," Moore said. "Now that we’ve transitioned into a recovery mission, I have instructed every single asset we have to go towards bringing a sense of closure to these families."