Baltimore bridge collapse: Third body recovered from water as Biden meets with victims’ families
Unified Command confirmed dive teams found the body of 38-year-old Maynor Yasir Suazo-Sandoval
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The body of a third victim has been recovered by divers from the wreckage of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, officials said Friday.
Maynor Yasir Suazo-Sandoval, 38, was the third man to be retrieved from the water after he plunged to his death with five other construction workers.
The bridge collapsed at 1.30am on 26 March after a cargo ship collided with a supporting pier. Six men, all of whom were Latino immigrant workers, were on the bridge at the time and are presumed dead, authorities have said.
Suazo-Sandoval, a native of Honduras, was married with a son, 18, and five-year-old daughter. He also leaves behind his siblings, who live in both Honduras and Maryland.
Carlos Alexis Suazo-Sandoval, Maynor’s brother, told The Washington Post that he was relieved the body had been found.
The bodies of two other victims were covered in the immediate aftermath of the collapse from a vehicle that had fallen into the Patapsco River. Dorian Castillo Cabrera, a 25-year-old from Guatemala, and Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, from Mexico.
Three more workers are still missing in the river.
“The collapse of the Key Bridge is undoubtedly one of the most challenging tragedies we have faced as a law enforcement agency. Along with our local, state and federal public safety partners, we will not give up,” Colonel Roland L Butler, Jr, Superintendent of the Maryland Department of State Police, said.
“There are families still waiting to hear if we have found their loved one. I can promise you, we are fully committed to finding closure for each of these families.”
President Joe Biden travelled to Baltimore on Friday to meet with the victims’ families and take an aerial tour of the wreckage on Marine One. The US Army Corps of Engineers announced that a new channel will be completed by the end of April and allow one of the country’s busiest ports to begin to reopen.
There are currently two temporary channels open but they are not deep enough for large container ships to pass through.The container ship involved in the crash, the Dali, remains stranded at the port.
This comes as new video footage has been released showing dive teams entering the water around the wreckage – revealing the challenging conditions authorities are working in.
President Joe Biden to depart White House for Baltimore
President Joe Biden is about to depart the White House for Baltimore, according to his official schedule. The president will receive an aerial tour of the wreckage around 12.30pm. He’ll later participate in a briefing on relief and recovery efforts.
Governor Wes Moore signs executive action to provide financial relief to port workers
Maryland will provide another $60m to workers and businesses struggling after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
“The Port of Baltimore is one of our state’s vital economic organs and the thousands of workers and businesses that depend on Port operations have been directly impacted by the Key Bridge collapse,” Mr Moore said in a news release.
“As we work as quickly – and as safely – as possible to clear the debris and open the commercial shipping channels, we are working in partnership with our partners at the local and federal levels of government, private sector, nonprofit sector, and philanthropic sector to respond to this economic crisis with the urgency that it deserves.”
The executive order allows the governor to pull $25m from the state’s rainy day fund and $35m from agency budgets.
Republican Representative Carlos A Gimenez of Florida probes army personnel about whether anything could be done to mitigate bridge collapses in the future during a Congressional hearing on Friday.
“I believe in Murphy’s law... it just says anything that can happen will. And obviously, look, it happened in Baltimore. It could happen. A ship lost power. It hit the bridge. The bridge collapsed,” he said.
“Could we have done something so that even in the event of Murphy’s law taking effect that we had protection around the bridge structure so that it would not collapse?” Mr Gimenzes asked. “Because now the largest port for vehicles in the US is knocked out of action”.
Biden administration asking Congress to foot the entire bill for rebuilding bridge
President Joe Biden’s administration is asking Congress to allow the federal government to use taxpayer funds to reconstruct the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said the request was “consistent with past catastrophic bridge collapses, including in 2007, when the Congress acted in a bipartisan manner within days of the I-35W bridge collapse in Minnesota”.
She made the remarks in a letter to congressional leaders.
“We stand ready to work with the Congress to ensure the City of Baltimore and the State of Maryland has what it needs to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which is critical to the nation’s workers and economy,” She wrote.
Read the letter here:
Biden gets aerial tour of collapsed Baltimore bridge
Biden gets briefing on bridge recovery efforts
Timeline given for reopening of Baltimore port
The US Army Corps of Engineers has announced a “tentative” timeline for the reopening of the vital shipping channel near the Port of Baltimore, following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key bridge.
The Corps said it expects to open a channel 280-feet wide and 35-feet deep by the end of April, and reopen the permanent 700-foot wide, 50-foot deep channel by the end of May.
Currently, vessel traffic in and out of the Port of Baltimore remains suspended. Trucks however are still being processed inside the facility’s marine terminals.
“We appreciate everyone’s patience as we continue to work through this unimaginable situation. We thank all of our incredible federal, state, and local partners who are working around the clock to make this happen,” the Corps said in a statement on Thursday evening.
“We remind everyone to keep their thoughts on the families that have suffered unreplaceable losses. Thank you to all of our valued business partners for your continued support of the Port of Baltimore during this incredibly difficult time.”
Biden delivering remarks from Port of Baltimore
President Joe Biden is delivering remarks from the Port of Baltimore.
Watch them here.
President Biden expected to meet with families of the victims
“I’ve been there,” said President Joe Biden, reflecting on the what it feels like to lose relatives in an accident. The president lost his wife and daughter in a car crash in 1972 and his son, Beau, to brain cancer in 2015.
“The anger, the pain, the depth of loss is so profound,” he continued, stating that the memory of a loved one “is going to bring smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye”.
The families are expected to meet with Biden this afternoon.
Biden vows ‘we will not rest’ until Baltimore’s Key Bridge is rebuilt as he visits scene of disaster
As workers continue efforts to cut apart and remove the twisted wreckage of what was once the Francis Scott Key Bridge, President Joe Biden vowed that he and his administration “will not rest” until a replacement span is rebuild and carrying vehicles across the Patapsco River once more.
Standing outside the Maryland Transportation Authority Police Department headquarters not far from where the bridge once stood, Mr Biden repeated the promise he made in remarks delivered from the White House, mere hours after the container ship Dali struck one of the half-century-old span’s supports, bringing it down and blocking all maritime traffic in and out of Baltimore’s harbour.
As Maryland Governor Wes Moore, Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, and a bevy of other Old Line State dignaries looked on, Mr Biden said: “We’re going to move heaven and earth to rebuild this bridge”.
Read more from Andrew Feinburg.
Biden vows ‘we will not rest’ until Baltimore’s Key Bridge is rebuilt
As workers continue efforts to cut apart and remove the twisted wreckage of what was once the Francis Scott Key Bridge, President Joe Biden vowed that he and his administration “will not rest” until a replacement span is rebuild and carrying vehicles across the Patapsco River once more.
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