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.
WATCH: White House vows to 'get to the bottom' of Baltimore Bridge collapse
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.
WATCH: Moment first vessel passes through temporary alternate channel in Baltimore
Video shows dive teams in water around Baltimore bridge wreckage
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.
US Army releases photos of responding authorities cutting parts of the bridge
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”.
Dali crew worried ‘what world thinks’ of them after tragic collision with bridge
The crew members stranded for a week on board a cargo vessel that collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore were worried what the world thought of them, an official said.
The Singapore-flagged ship Dali, en route to the south Asian country, has been stuck with 4,000 containers and its mostly Indian crew since last Tuesday after the vessel lost power and collided with a support column of the bridge, leading to its collapse.
The 20 Indian and one Sri Lankan sailors were in good health, including a member who suffered minor injuries, according to officials.
The “rattled” sailors had adequate food on board but were keeping quiet about their situation amid an ongoing investigation, said Joshua Messick, the executive director of the non-profit Baltimore International Seafarers’ Center.
“They’re not saying much at all to anyone who has been in touch with them,” Mr Messick told the BBC.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar has the full story...
Baltimore ship crew worried ‘what world thinks’ days after Key Bridge collapse
Singapore-flagged ship Dali stuck under bridge with mostly Indian crew since last Tuesday
Baltimore bridge collapse dive team recovers body of third construction worker
A dive team has recovered a third body from the water following the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore.
The worker was identified as 38-year-old Maynor Yasir Suazo-Sandoval, according to a statement on Friday from Unified Command, who is handling the recovery operation.
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.
READ MORE:
Baltimore bridge collapse dive team recovers body of third construction worker
Authorities believe six workers plunged into frigid river when bridge collapsed
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.
ICYMI: 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
President repeats his vow to ‘move heaven and earth’ to rebuild the collapsed bridge and reopen the Port of Baltimore
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