Current:Home > ScamsCentral American and Mexican families mourn the Baltimore bridge collapse missing workers -AssetScope
Central American and Mexican families mourn the Baltimore bridge collapse missing workers
View
Date:2025-04-16 03:45:55
AZACUALPA, Honduras (AP) — The construction workers who went missing in the Baltimore bridge collapse all hailed from Mexico or Central America before they settled in the Maryland area.
Police managed to close bridge traffic seconds before a cargo ship slammed into one of the Francis Scott Key Bridge’s supports early Tuesday, causing the span to fall into the frigid Patapsco River. There wasn’t time for a maintenance crew filling potholes on the span to get to safety.
At least eight people fell into the water and two were rescued. The other six are missing and presumed dead, but the search continued Wednesday.
The governments of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras confirmed that their citizens were among the missing.
Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, 39, was the youngest of eight siblings from Azacualpa, a rural mountainous area in northwestern Honduras along the border with Guatemala.
Eighteen years ago, he set out on his own for the U.S. looking for opportunities. He entered illegally and settled in Maryland, where he eventually started a business, one of his brothers, Martín Suazo Sandoval, said Wednesday while standing in the dirt street in front of the family’s small hotel in Honduras. He said his brother was entrepreneurial and hard-working.
Other siblings and relatives followed him north.
“He was the fundamental pillar, the bastion so that other members of the family could also travel there and later get visas and everything,” Martín Suazo Sandoval said. “He was really the driving force so that most of the family could travel.”
The pandemic forced Maynor to find other work, and he joined Brawner Builders, the company that was performing maintenance on the bridge when it collapsed.
Things had been going well for him until the collapse. He was moving through the steps to get legal residency and planned to return to Honduras this year to complete the process, his brother said.
Maynor’s employer broke the news of his disappearance to his family, leaving them devastated, especially his mother, who still lives in Azacualpa, Martín Suazo Sandoval said.
“These are difficult moments, and the only thing we can do is keep the faith,” he said, noting that his younger brother knew how to swim and could have ended up anywhere. If the worst outcome is confirmed, he said the family would work to return his body to Honduras.
In Mexico, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said three Mexicans were on the bridge when it fell, including one who was injured but rescued and two who were still missing. He said he wouldn’t share their names for the families’ privacy.
The tragedy illustrated the contributions that migrants make to the U.S. economy, López Obrador said.
“This demonstrates that migrants go out and do risky jobs at midnight. And for this reason, they do not deserve to be treated as they are by certain insensitive, irresponsible politicians in the United States,” he said.
Guatemala’s Foreign Affairs Ministry confirmed that two of its citizens were among the missing. And El Salvador’s foreign minister, Alexandra Hill Tinoco, posted Wednesday on X that one Salvadoran citizen, Miguel Luna, was among the missing workers.
Federal and state investigators have said the crash appears to have been an accident.
___
Associated Press reporters Sonia Pérez D. in Guatemala City, Marcos Aléman in San Salvador, El Salvador, and Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report.
veryGood! (72)
Related
- The GOP and Kansas’ Democratic governor ousted targeted lawmakers in the state’s primary
- US military shows reporters pier project in Gaza as it takes another stab at aid delivery
- New York judge lifts parts of Trump gag order, allowing him to comment on jury and witnesses
- Only 1 in 5 workers nearing retirement is financially on track: It will come down to hard choices
- How breaking emerged from battles in the burning Bronx to the Paris Olympics stage
- Explosion at homeless encampment injures, hospitalizes LA firefighter responding to flames
- RHONY Alum Kelly Bensimon Calls Off Wedding to Scott Litner 4 Days Before Ceremony
- Explosion at homeless encampment injures, hospitalizes LA firefighter responding to flames
- Illinois governor calls for resignation of sheriff whose deputy fatally shot Black woman in her home
- Ulta’s Summer Beauty Sale Is Here—Score Redken, Estée Lauder, Sun Bum & More Beauty Faves up to 45% Off
Ranking
- A New York Appellate Court Rejects a Broad Application of the State’s Green Amendment
- Infamous hangman-turned-TikTok star dies in Bangladesh year after being released from prison
- Hunter Biden suspended from practicing law in D.C. after gun conviction
- Amazon wants more powerful Alexa, potentially with monthly fees: Reports
- Bodycam footage shows high
- Who is... Alex Trebek? Former 'Jeopardy!' host to be honored with USPS Forever stamp
- Ford recalls more than 550,000 trucks because transmissions can suddenly downshift
- Florida man kills mother and 2 other women before dying in gunfight with deputies, sheriff says
Recommendation
Breaking debut in Olympics raises question: Are breakers artists or athletes?
Argentina vs. Chile live updates: Watch Messi in Copa América game today
Florida man kills mother and 2 other women before dying in gunfight with deputies, sheriff says
32-year-old purchased 2 lottery tickets this year. One made him a millionaire.
'As foretold in the prophecy': Elon Musk and internet react as Tesla stock hits $420 all
This Longtime Summer House Star Is Not Returning for Season 9
Alec Baldwin attorneys say FBI testing damaged gun that killed cinematographer; claim evidence destroyed
Longtime Predators GM David Poile, captain Shea Weber highlight 2024 Hockey Hall of Fame class