Rescuers are searching for at least six construction workers missing when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River early Tuesday in Baltimore, Maryland.
Workers were repairing potholes on Interstate 695 as it passed over the bridge when it was struck by a freighter.
Two others were able to be rescued, and one is hospitalized.
There are also at least five vehicles sunk in the river, according to rescue teams.
The FBI has found no evidence of terrorism.
"We continue looking for survivors. It is a search and rescue mission," said Maryland Governor Wes Moore this afternoon at a press conference in which he said that they will spare no resources to find the missing.
Jeffrey Pritzker, executive vice president of Brawner Builders, the company that employed the workers, assured The Associated Press news agency that, although no bodies have been recovered, it
is presumed that the six died
due to the depth of the water and the time that has passed since the crash.
The identity of the workers is not yet officially known.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge on the Patapsco River in Baltimore, Maryland. Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images
"We take so much pride in safety and we have cones and lights and barriers and flags," Pritzker continued, "but we never anticipated the bridge would collapse."
"I know everyone on that team. They're great people," said Earl Schneider, structural supervisor for Brawner Builders. "It's tough.
"It's been a difficult morning," he told NBC News, sister network of Noticias Telemundo. He added that three or four had had babies in the past year.
Schneider, 33, said he worked on the bridge about two weeks ago and was awakened around 2 a.m. by frantic calls from a friend who works at a hospital and who believed Schneider was on the bridge in the moment of the crash.
[The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapses after being hit by a freighter: there are no signs of terrorism]
Schneider then called everyone on the team he knew was working, but the calls went to voicemail.
"It's tragic, in the sense that it's a blessing that it wasn't there, but it comes at the cost of someone else's life," he said. "It changed their lives in the blink of an eye. We don't really know how much time we have." , he added.
Jesus Campos, who said he also works for Brawner Builders, told The Baltimore Sun that he used to be on the missing team.
According to Campos, he just changed shifts: "I could have been there, like my colleagues."
He added that all of his classmates are Hispanic men.
Campos told another local media, The Baltimore Banner, that his companions are men between 30 and 40 years old, originally from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.
According to Campos, they live in Dundalk and Highlandtown with their families.
"They are humble and hard-working men," he added.
NBC News also spoke with the daughter-in-law of Miguel Luna, a Brawner Builders worker who was on the bridge at the time of the accident.
She declined to be interviewed, but shared that she had gone to the vicinity of the bridge when receiving a call about what happened to try to gather information, and has not yet received news from the authorities about her family member.
"Our thoughts are with the people of #Baltimore and with the Government of Maryland, after the tragic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge," Mexico's ambassador to the United States, Esteban Moctezuma Barragán, wrote on his account on X, formerly Twitter.
"Our solidarity goes out to all those affected by this devastating accident," he added without detailing whether it has been confirmed that any of the missing people are Mexican.
The Mexican consulate in Washington published on social networks a call to its compatriots to contact the consular office if they need help.
The embassies of Honduras and El Salvador also did so.
"Since early in the morning, our consulate in Washington DC, through our consul @gmatutyr, has been investigating the information circulating about the possibility of finding a fellow Honduran national who disappeared in this tragic event in the United States," explained Wilson Paz, general director. of Protection of Honduran Migrants.