The United States Coast Guard suspended this Tuesday the intense search for survivors after the
collapse of the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore
, caused by the collision of a cargo ship, and
declared six workers
who were missing after the accident dead.
.
"Based on the time we have been searching, the extensive search efforts we have put in, and the temperature of the water,
we do not believe we will find any of the individuals alive
," the Guard commander explained in a press conference. Coastal, Shannon Gilreath.
Authorities
are now focusing on the search for the bodies
.
Some boats will scour the area overnight, while divers will resume diving on Wednesday morning, when visibility and temperature conditions improve.
Video
A video, which shows the impact from the front, shows the moment in which the cargo ship loses power and its lights go out.
Of the eight employees of the construction company Brawner Builders who were filling potholes on the bridge and fell into the dark waters of the Patapsco River,
only two had been rescued
.
One of them was in serious condition.
The Singapore company Synergy Group, which operates the ship, confirmed that
none of the ship's 22 crew members were injured
.
The event occurred in the early hours of this Tuesday, when the
Singapore-flagged Dali ship
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.
Two Guatemalans and a Honduran among the victims
The Guatemalan Foreign Ministry announced that two of the fatal victims are citizens of that country.
This is a 26-year-old man from San Luis (Petén) and another 35-year-old from Camotán (Chiquimula).
Another of the people who lost their lives was the Honduran Maynor Sauzo.
This was confirmed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of that country.
The Honduran vice chancellor, Antonio García, told Noticiero TN5, in Tegucigalpa, that the Government of Xiomara Castro has communicated with Suazo's family in Honduras and that there is an official disposition to repatriate his remains, if his relatives decide.
Video
The Baltimore bridge was destroyed, the US police reported that they see "no indications" that it was a terrorist act.
Suazo, 39, was originally from Azacualpa, department of Santa Bárbara, in western Honduras, and had been living in the United States for 18 years, García said.
Garcia also said the company Suazo worked for contacted his family after the accident.
The Mexican consulate, for its part, is also trying to verify if there are citizens of that country among the victims.
The ship that crashed in Baltimore passed two inspections in 2023
Singapore's port authority said Wednesday that the cargo ship that collapsed a bridge in Baltimore, flying the Singapore flag,
had passed two inspections in 2023
.
The vessel's certificates "covering the structural integrity of the vessel and the functionality of the vessel's equipment were valid at the time of the incident," the port authority of this Southeast Asian city-state declared.
He also noted that a faulty fuel pressure gauge had been repaired in June.
The day before, the Singapore port authority said its investigators and those from the Transportation Security Investigation Bureau were heading to Baltimore to cooperate with the US coast guard.
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
.
In addition, the collapse of the bridge has indefinitely blocked access to the port of Baltimore, one of the most important in the United States in the Atlantic, which will hinder cargo and passenger traffic on the east 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.
With information from agencies.
IS