Wednesday, March 27, saw the start of recovery operations in Maryland as searchers continued to look for the six people who were thought to have died following the terrible fall of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge.
A 985-foot-long tanker collided with the bridge early on Tuesday, sending parts of it tumbling into the Patapsco River. Six construction workers from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador were listed as missing, according to CNN.
The US Coast Guard, however, has now said that it will halt its extensive search and rescue operation after coming to the conclusion that the men have passed away.
Miguel Luna, 49, a husband and father of three who was born in El Salvador and has lived in Maryland for almost 20 years, was one of the people identified. When the bridge collapsed, Luna was among the workers assigned to fix its potholes, as the BBC reported.
While ongoing recovery attempts continued, Miguel Luna’s wife, María del Carmen Castellón, voiced her sadness and the family eagerly awaited news.
They merely advise us to wait and that they are unable to provide us any information at this time. We are inconsolable because we don’t know if they have already saved them and our hearts are torn. In an interview with Telemundo 44, Maria bemoaned, “We’re just waiting to hear any news.”
Among the workers who went missing was Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, 38, who was also identified as a victim. Maynor, a married father of an 18-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter, was originally from Honduras. His brother Martin Suazo stated that he had lived in the United States for almost eighteen years.
The fall occurred early on Tuesday morning while the six workers—including Maynor—were working on fixing potholes on the bridge. They worked for a nearby firm called Brawner Builders, which maintains bridges in Maryland.
Senior executive Jeffrey Pritzker of Brawner Builders emphasized the company’s dedication to safety while expressing deep dismay at the incident’s unexpected nature.
Jeffrey said, “This was so completely unforeseen.” “We’re at a loss for words. We have cones, signs, lighting, barriers, and flaggers because we take such great interest in maintaining safety. However, we never anticipated that the bridge would fall.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who are missing and thought to be deceased.
I pushed my husband out of bed to stop what I believed was snoring.
Lisa Lee, 25, was sleeping next to her husband Lewis Little when she thought she heard him snoring. “I shoved him out of bed to stop what I believed was snoring,” Lisa explained. But as she touched the moist sheet, she knew something wasn’t right. Lewis wasn’t breathing. “I turned on the light and stared at his battered face,” she added.
Panicked, Lisa called for an ambulance, but the wait felt endless. When medics arrived, they broke the heartbreaking news: Lewis had passed away hours earlier. The sound Lisa had mistaken for snoring was, in fact, air escaping his body and passing through his vocal cords.
Lewis had been diagnosed with Brugada syndrome, a rare heart condition, just a year earlier. Doctors had assured him that his life wasn’t in danger and that he could live a long life despite the condition. Tragically, just a year later, Lewis died unexpectedly in his sleep.
Lisa was left in shock. “I couldn’t believe it. The doctors told us he was going to be fine,” she said, still processing the sudden loss of her husband.
Brugada syndrome is a genetic condition that affects the heart’s rhythm and can lead to sudden death. In Lewis’s case, it proved fatal despite earlier reassurances.
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