United States: On Wednesday, the official report confirmed the recovery of the fifth construction worker’s body from the tragic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore in March.
Further Details
The victim was identified as 49-year-old Mexican native Miguel Angel Luna Gonzalez from Glen Burnie, Maryland, according to an official news release from State officials. Mr. Gonzalez was part of a six-worker team involved in the accident, with one still missing.
Additionally, over five weeks after the bridge collapsed during the night, the construction site was being investigated for one of the missing trucks.
Two teams promptly alerted the Maryland State Police, followed by the Maryland Transportation Authority and F.B.I. Police, who together recovered Mr. Gonzalez’s body from a red truck.
Col. Roland L. Butler, Jr., the superintendent of the Maryland Department of State Police, stated, “We remain dedicated to the ongoing recovery operations, while knowing behind each person lost in this tragedy lies a loving family,” as the New York Times reported.
Details on the Deceased
Mr. Gonzalez, who was an F.B.I. officer, lived in Baltimore, was married, and had three children, according to Gustavo Torres, the executive director of CASA, an organization dedicated to providing services to immigrants.
On that fateful night, rescue divers retrieved two bodies, with the first two recovered the day after the disaster, while the third was found on April 5, a couple of weeks later.
The men were contractors working in Baltimore in the early hours of March 26 when the steamship named Dali suddenly lost power after hitting the bridge’s headbar.
While two crew members survived the crash, six others went into the water, with their cries heard from the other side.
Dali had barely left with a cargo of 4,700 shipping containers bound for Sri Lanka when it collapsed, as reported by The New York Times.
Engineers and accident investigators themselves have stated that the bridge is not strong enough to withstand the impact of a container ship due to design weaknesses, leading to the accident.
US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called Baltimore’s collapse the worst bridge incident in a decade, noting that the collapse’s impact would be felt at the port for a long time.