politics

Body of Fifth Victim in Baltimore Bridge Collapse Is Recovered


The body of a fifth construction worker who died in the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore in March was found on Wednesday, officials said.

The victim was identified as Miguel Angel Luna Gonzalez, 49, of Glen Burnie, Md., state officials said in a news release. Mr. Gonzalez was one of six workers who went missing in the collapse. One remains unaccounted for.

More than five weeks after the bridge collapsed in the middle of the night when it was struck by a cargo ship, salvage teams on Wednesday found one of the missing construction vehicles. The crews notified the Maryland State Police, who along with the Maryland Transportation Authority Police and the F.B.I. recovered Mr. Gonzalez’s body from a red truck.

“We remain dedicated to the ongoing recovery operations, while knowing behind each person lost in this tragedy lies a loving family,” Col. Roland L. Butler, Jr., the superintendent of the Maryland Department of State Police, said in a statement.

Mr. Gonzalez, who was from El Salvador, was married with three children, according to Gustavo Torres, the executive director of the nonprofit CASA, an organization that provides services to immigrants in Baltimore.

Two victims were recovered the day after the disaster. A third was recovered on April 5, and a fourth a few weeks later.

The men were part of a construction crew working on the Baltimore roadway before dawn on March 26, when a large cargo ship named Dali lost power and hit the bridge. Two workers from the crew survived the accident, but six disappeared into the water and were presumed dead by the evening.

The Dali was carrying 4,700 shipping containers and was headed for Sri Lanka when it crashed.

Engineers had long warned that the bridge, because of its design, would not survive a direct hit from a container ship.

In the aftermath, Pete Buttigieg, the U.S. transportation secretary, said the incident was the deadliest bridge collapse in the United States in more than a decade and that it would have a lasting impact on the Port of Baltimore.

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