The Mexican Embassy in the United States confirmed that among the six victims of the Baltimore bridge accident there are hoh Mexican citizensso he began negotiations with the families of the victims, without the names being made known.
A spokesperson for the Mexican Embassy explained that There are people from Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador among the six victims, but he did not specify the exact number or give details about their identities.
Previously, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala had confirmed that two are Guatemalans: a 26-year-old man from San Luis (Petén) and another 35-year-old from Camotán (Chiquimula).
Sources from the Honduran Embassy reported that they were also trying to verify if there were any Honduran people among those affected by the bridge collapse.
The events occurred early Tuesday morning, when the Singapore-flagged ship Dali suffered a power outage after leaving the port of Baltimore and crashed into a pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed in a matter of seconds.
Eight employees of the construction company Brawner Builders, who were filling potholes on the bridgefell into the dark waters of the Patapsco River, of which only two could be rescued, one of them in serious condition.
After an intense search against the clock that lasted almost all day, the authorities declared the six missing people dead and announced that they would reactivate the search for the bodies on Wednesday.
Before the collision, the container ship’s crew issued an emergency warning, allowing authorities to cut off vehicle traffic on the bridge and prevent a major tragedy.
“Based on the length of time we have been searching, the extensive search efforts we have put into and the temperature of the water, we do not believe that we will find any of the individuals alive,” Coast Guard Commander Shannon Gilreath explained in a press conference.
Authorities are now focusing on the search for the bodies. Some boats will scour the area overnight, while divers will resume diving in the morning when visibility and temperature conditions improve.
Economic impact and reconstruction
There is also an investigation underway into what happened, although the FBI stated from the beginning that there are no indications that it was a terrorist attack.
Besides, The collapse of the bridge has indefinitely blocked access to the port of Baltimore, one of the most important ports in the United States in the Atlantic. which will hinder cargo and passenger traffic on the eastern coast of the country and anticipates severe economic consequences.
Immortalized in the television series ‘The Wire’, the bridge was inaugurated on March 23, 1977 and has been an economic pillar for the area since it was erected
For this reason, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, was quick to react and announced the reconstruction of the bridge as soon as possible.
“I have ordered my team to move heaven and earth to reopen the port and rebuild the bridge as soon as humanly possible,” the president declared in a message to the press at the White House.
Investigators quickly concluded that it was an accident and not an act of terrorism.
*With information from EFE.
Keep reading:
• A bridge falls in Baltimore after the impact of a ship while vehicles were crossing at that time
• Baltimore authorities search for 6 people after Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse
• The impressive images left by the collapse of the bridge in Baltimore