(BALTIMORE) — Six construction workers are presumed dead after a cargo ship struck Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, sending the workers into the water.
Eight workers were fixing potholes on the span when the ship hit the bridge around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. The workers plunged into the frigid water, and two were rescued, officials said.
Search and rescue efforts for the six missing people were suspended Tuesday evening, officials said. Operations are now shifting to a recovery phase, officials said.
“Based on the length of time that we’ve gone in the search, the extensive search efforts that we put into it, the water temperature — at this point, we do not believe that we’re going to find any of these individuals still alive,” Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath told reporters Tuesday evening.
Among the six missing is construction worker Miguel Luna, who is originally from El Salvador, according to Court Appointed Special Advocates, a group that works with immigrants.
Luna “is a husband, a father of three, and has called Maryland his home for over 19 years,” the organization said in a press release.
He “left at 6:30 p.m. Monday evening for work and since, has not come home,” the organization said.
Two missing workers are from Guatemala: a 26-year-old from San Luis, Petén, and a 35-year-old from Camotán, Chiquimula, the country’s foreign ministry said. Their names were not released.
“The Consul General of Guatemala in Maryland was able to establish telephone communication with the brothers of the two missing Guatemalans,” the ministry said in a statement posted in Spanish.
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