April 6 (UPI) — Officials in Maryland have recovered the body a third missing construction worker from the water around the site of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.
Dive teams recovered the body from a submerged vehicle on Friday and authorities later confirmed his identity as Maynor Yasir Suazo-Sandova, according to the bridge disaster Unified Command team.
The construction worker had been missing since a near-total collapse of the bridge into the Patapsco River on March 26 after being struck by a container ship. The 984-foot, Singapore-based ship Dali hit the bridge at about 1:30 a.m. EDT after the vessel experienced mechanical failures.
Suazo-Sandoval is one of six construction workers killed when the bridge collapsed. The span was closed for repair work at the time.
The 38-year-old came to the United States from Honduras more than 17 years ago, was a father of four and had aspirations of starting his own business, immigrant advocate Gustavo Torres told reporters last week.
Maryland State Police Superintendent Col. Roland Butler Jr. told WBAL-TV on Friday that Suazo-Sandoval “was the only individual that we located in that vehicle. We went back down a short period of time later to conduct a search around the area.
“The diver was able to enter the vehicle and could not find anyone else who was within the vehicle and no one else located in the area of the vehicle,” he said.
The bodies of fellow construction workers Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, were found shortly after the bridge collapse. Both men were found trapped inside a pickup truck submerged below the water.
Three construction workers who were also on the bridge at the time remain missing and are presumed dead.
“There are families still waiting to hear if we have found their loved one,” Butler said Friday. “I can promise you, we are fully committed to finding closure for each of these families.”
The news came on the same day that President Joe Biden visited the site, assuring residents the partially obstructed port would reopen soon. Biden also previously announced $3.5 million in emergency dislocated worker grant funding to Maryland.
Specialty salvage crews have already begun to remove the 1.6-mile steal arch continuous truss bridge.