At least two Mexicans are among those missing after the collapse of the Baltimore bridge.
This was confirmed by Andrés Manuel López Obrador in his press conference this Wednesday.
“The report we have is that they are three Mexicans.
One was rescued, he came out alive, injured but now safe.
There are two who are missing,” said the president.
The authorities report six people who have not yet been found, all of them were immigrants of Latin origin: from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
“We don't think we're going to find any of these people still alive,” Shannon N. Gilreath of the Coast Guard said Tuesday night, as rescue efforts were paused.
The six missing people worked for the company Brawner Builders and were carrying out work on the Francis Scott Key Bridge at the time the ship lost control and crashed into one of the pillars in the early hours of Tuesday.
The men repaired the asphalt of the structure.
Honduran authorities have identified one of the victims as Maynor Suazo, 37 years old.
Suazo is the youngest of eight siblings and the father of two children.
His family, originally from Santa Barbara, came to the United States in 2003, one of his relatives told the American media.
The Government of Guatemala announced that there are two of its citizens among the possible victims: a 26-year-old who was originally from Petén and another, 35, from Chiquimula.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has established contact with their relatives to confirm their identities and provide consular assistance, he said in a statement.
Another of the missing has been identified as Miguel Luna, a Salvadoran worker who has lived in the United States for 19 years and has three children, according to statements by the director of the CASA Maryland organization cited by the Efe agency.
Luna was a member of that association for several years, he added.
The Salvadoran Government has not commented.
“We know who they are, where they are from, there is communication with their families, they are being supported, there is assistance from the diplomatic corps in Baltimore, Washington, we are working on it,” commented López Obrador about the Mexicans affected in the incident.
The families asked for privacy, while operations continue to find the bodies, added the president, who regretted what happened.
The Mexican Government announced that it will not release the names of those affected.
US authorities have ruled out an intentional collision and have said that the collision occurred after the ship suffered an electrical failure and lost control.
López Obrador valued the work carried out by the migrant community in the United States and criticized the heavy-handed policies championed by some sectors of Washington.
“They do not deserve to be treated as is often the case with some irresponsible and insensitive politicians in the United States,” he said.
He also expressed solidarity with the victims of other countries, “brothers” of Central America.
The foreign ministries of the four countries of origin of the workers have been cautious in providing information about them and the total number of those affected.
They have focused, instead, on providing consular assistance to families while the situation is clarified.
The authorities of the State of Maryland highlighted the value of the two workers who survived the accident, one of them uninjured and the other in serious condition, as well as those who blocked the bridge entrances when the emergency notice of the crash was broadcast to prevent a greater tragedy.
“These people are heroes,” said Governor Wes Moore.
“They saved lives,” he added.
Moore contacted the families of the missing to offer them support during the search efforts and asked for the support of Joe Biden's Government to overcome the emergency.
After suspending work due to bad weather, authorities announced that they were going to resume efforts to find the workers early this Wednesday.
The Coast Guard acknowledged that the time that has passed since the collapse and the temperature of the water reduce the chances of finding the workers alive to a minimum.
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