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.
Remembering the victims: Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval
Another of the workers missing and presumed dead since the bridge collapse in Baltimore has been named as Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, according to Martin Suazo, his brother.
Martin, who lives in Honduras, told CNN that his family over in Baltimore called him to tell him that his brother was missing after the container ship crashed into the bridge.
He is originally from Azacualpa in Honduras and had been living in the United States for more than 18 years. He was married and had an 18-year-old son and a five-year-old daughter.
His brother told the outlet that Sandoval was an entrepreneur who had started his own maintenance company, venturing to the US “in search of a better life,” Martin told the outlet.
In an interview with Honduran newspaper La Prensa, Martin said in Spanish, “What we’re living is inexplicable. We wish it wasn’t real. We’re dismayed, especially the agony of not knowing when they’re going to find the body.”
“My brother was a generous man,” the brother told NPR.
He gave a lot back to his community in Honduras, Martin said. While working in the US, Sandoval sent money back to Honduras — enough to open up a hotel which provided jobs for his town, including his family. On top of this, Martin told the outlet that his brother helped those with disabilities, paid for neighbours’ medicine and doctor’s visits, and he even sponsored a youth soccer league.
One of eight siblings, the construction worker was described by another one of his brothers, Carlos Suazo Sandoval, as a “joyful person who had a vision.”
“We still have faith until this moment, God grant the miracle, it would be beautiful,” Carlos told CNN en Español on Wednesday. “We still have hope, I know that time is our worst enemy.”
The Suazo family are now focusing on having Sandoval’s body found, and if they do, they plan to repatriate the body to Honduras, Carlos said.
The Honduran Embassy told Martin Suazo that it would work with him to bring his brother’s body back to the country for funeral arrangements.
Both Sandoval and Luna were members of Casa, the organisation said in a statement: “Our hearts break knowing that Miguel and Maynor were part of the six essential workers who were on the bridge when it came tumbling down...They had a dream of a better future for themselves and their families and made the brave decision to travel to this country for a brighter future.”
“In a time when there is so much hatred against the immigrant community, we look to the story of Maynor and Miguel who built bridges to connect communities, not building walls to divide them. Today and always we honor them and their sacrifices,” the group wrote.
Collapse could fuel reinsurance pricing
According to the Wall Street Journal, the cost of rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge will largely fall on reinsurers.
If the losses from the incident end up at the higher end of estimates, which are currently $2bn to $4bn, then insurers may add reserves to social inflation which could cause them to seek higher prices, the outlet reported.
Last year, natural catastrophe losses were capped at $108bn, above the 10-year average of $89bn.
Crew on board Dali ship prepared for 35-day journey, Coast Guard official says
Admiral Shannon Gilreath said that the 21-person crew on board the Dali prepared for a 35-day journey to Sri Lanka. Mr Gilreath said that the crew members have “all the supplies they need to be safe on board”. It’s previously been reported that the men do not have the proper visas to leave the ship, which compares in size to the Eiffel Tower.
He added that officials are keeping track of them and they are being supported
WATCH: White House vows to 'get to the bottom' of Baltimore Bridge collapse
WATCH: Moment first vessel passes through temporary alternate channel in Baltimore
Who is Marciel Muise? The man leading the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation
Marcel Muise is a marine casualty investigator who served in the US Coast Guard and captained oil drilling ships and rigs before joining the safety board, according to The Baltimore Banner.
Mr Muise worked for the NTSB for six years. The collapse is the largest disaster he has been tasked with overseeing since joining the agency.
New video shows dive teams in water around Baltimore bridge wreckage
New video footage has been released showing dive teams entering the water around the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore – revealing the challenging conditions authorities are working in to remove the debris and get the port back up and running.
In photos: 3D images capture the wreckage in the Patapsco River
How did the crash occur?
The cause of the collision is still being investigated, but evidence suggests the vessel lost power just before it crashed into the bridge.
The NTSB recovered the voyage data recorder (VDR), or “black box,” which provided a minute-by-minute timeline of the lead-up to the crash.
The data was made public on 27 March, showing that the Dali departed from Baltimore’s Seagirt Marine Terminal at 12.39am on Tuesday 26 March.
By 1.24am, the ship’s bridge audio recorded numerous alarms. Around the same time, the VDR stopped recording the vessel’s system data, but it was able to continue taping audio from an alternative power source.
The VDR resumed recording the system data and captured steering commands and orders about its rudder. Seconds later, the ship’s pilot issued a radio call to tugboats close by asking for assistance for the stricken vessel. The pilot association dispatcher then called the MDTA duty officer about a blackout, NTSB said.
A minute later, the pilot ordered the Dali to drop the port anchor and issued another high-frequency radio call, reporting that the ship had lost all power and was approaching the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
A transit authority duty officer alerted two units — one on each side of the bridge — who were already on the scene and ordered them to stop traffic, shutting down all lanes.
Two minutes after the warning call was made, at 1.29am, the VDR recorded 33 seconds of sound “consistent with” the vessel colliding into the bridge, the NTSB wrote. The Dali was moving at just under 8 miles per hour.
The pilot then radioed the US Coast Guard to report the bridge had come down.
While deeper analysis of the black box data has yet to come out, some experts have also questioned whether the structural integrity of the bridge itself was strong enough.
Julian Carter, a structural and civil engineering expert, earlier told Sky News that the structures of the bridge were “very weak” at certain points.
Fire officials said earlier that they do not have any information as to whether there was a problem with the 300-metre-long ship, and have not spoken to the pilot of the vessel yet.
Chief Wallace added that he could not confirm if there had been a fuel leakage from the cargo ship.
“We hope as the sun comes up, we will get a much better picture if we do have a fuel spill and what the impact has been so far,” he said.
Gov Moore said on 27 March that it’s still unclear what caused the ship’s power to go out. “There needs to be accountability to make sure these things do not happen again and that we have a system in place to make sure they don’t,” he said at a press conference.
Engineers examining Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Maryland
Officials are reexamining other bridges in Maryland after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The Cheasapeake Bridge, a 4-mile long structure which sits on top of the body of water bearing its name, is considered “fracture critical”, as was the Key Bridge before it fell.
The classification means that the entire structure could fail if one of its support beams are struck, according to The Baltimore Banner. About 17,000 other bridges across the country are also considered “fracture critical”.
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