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27th March 2024
10:46am GMT
The first of the missing men who were working on the Baltimore Bridge when it collapsed has been named as 49-year-old Miguel Luna.
On Tuesday, the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after a large cargo ship crashed into one of its pillars.
At the time, road workers were filling pot holes on the bridge, and fell into the Patapsco River when the accident occurred.
Initially, some 20 people were feared to have fallen into the water, but rescue teams later announced that two men had been recovered from the river, with six more unaccounted for.
One of these men has been nammed as Miguel Luna, a father of three from El Salvador. The 49-year-old was identified by Casa, a non-profit organisation which helps the immigrant community in Baltimore.
Casa's executive director Gustavo Torres said in a statement: "Miguel Luna, from El Salvador, left at 6:30 p.m. Monday evening for work and since, has not come home. He is a husband, a father of three, and has called Maryland his home for over 19 years.
“Providing humanitarian support during this crisis is the priority, as families navigate this tragedy and seek answers about their missing loved ones. The entire Baltimore region and CASA family is lamenting this tragedy."
His wife Maria del Carmen Castellon told Telemundo 44: "They only tell us that we have to wait, that for now, they can't give us information. [We feel] devastated, devastated because our heart is broken, because we don't know if they've rescued them yet. We're just waiting to hear any news."
A second man has been identified as Maynor Suazo, 37. The father of two has been named by the Associated Press, and had been living in the US for the last 18.
Both Luna and Suazo are presumed dead, along with the four other missing men who were all citizens of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
Coast Guard rear admiral Shannon Gilreath announced on Tuesday night that rescue teams "do not believe we are going to find these individuals alive."
Gilreath said: “Based on the length of time that we’ve gone in this search the extensive search efforts that have gone into it, the water temperature, at this point we do not believe we are going to find these individuals alive.
“The coast guard’s not going away, none of our partners are going away, but we’re just going to transition into a different phase.”
Efforts will now be focused on recovering the workers’ bodie, with the search having been suspended overnight due to poor visibility and dangerous currents in the water, the BBC reports.
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