The bodies of two construction workers were discovered in the chilly waters of Baltimore harbor on Wednesday, trapped in their red pick-up truck after a giant cargo ship collided with the bridge where they had been repairing potholes.
Maryland police said that sonar shows what they believe are more vehicles trapped within the concrete and twisted steel debris of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
Six of the eight-man construction crew are believed to have been killed, with four bodies yet to be found.
Warning that it was not safe for divers to try to penetrate the wreckage, police told a press conference that they were shifting to a salvage operation, removing the superstructure and then sending divers back in to recover the rest of the bodies.
“Based on sonar scans, we firmly believe that the vehicles are encased in the superstructure and concrete that we tragically saw come down,” said Colonel Roland Butler, the superintendent of Maryland’s state police.
The call for help was heard by two Maryland Transportation Authority units on the bridge because of the roadwork, and they shut down all lanes of traffic, likely saving lives.
Nearly the entire steel structure, crossed by tens of thousands of motorists each day, collapsed within seconds, cascading over the bow of the ship, blocking one of the busiest US trading ports.
Butler named the two victims found Wednesday as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, a 35-year-old who had lived in Baltimore but was originally from Mexico, and his 26-year-old colleague Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, who lived in the suburb of Dundalk but came from Guatemala.
