BALTIMORE — One truck has been recovered from the water in Baltimore, but at least one vehicle remains hanging from the metal, according to a Homeland Security memo that was described to The Associated Press by a law enforcement official.
The official was not authorized to discuss details of the document or the investigation and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.
Gov. Wes Moore on Wednesday praised divers who have spent hours in frigid water.
“They are down there in darkness where they can literally see about a foot in front of them,” he said. “They are trying to navigate mangled metal and they’re also in a place it is now presumed that people have lost their lives, so the work of these first responders, the work of these divers, I cannot stress enough how remarkable these individuals are.”
LAWMAKERS SEEK TO HELP BALTIMORE WORKERS
Maryland lawmakers are drafting emergency legislation to help workers affected by the bridge collapse.
State Sen. Bill Ferguson, the Senate president, said he and a fellow Democratic lawmaker, Del. Luke Clippinger, are proposing income replacement for the thousands of workers who rely on daily operations at the Port of Baltimore. He said he spent hours Tuesday talking to dock workers, business owners and others.
“The human cost of lives lost yesterday is overwhelming and tragic,” Ferguson posted Wednesday on X. “The economic and stability loss to the thousands impacted in the days ahead cannot be understated.”
Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, also noted Wednesday morning the importance of the Port of Baltimore to the nation’s economy, saying the shutdown is affecting everyone from farmers in Kentucky to auto dealers in Michigan.
“It’s imperative that we get the Port of Baltimore back up and going, and it is not just about how we’re supporting Maryland,” Moore said. “This is about how we’re supporting the American economy.”
MISSING WORKERS CAME FROM SEVERAL COUNTRIES
Among the six missing and presumed dead after the bridge collapse are people from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, according to diplomats from those countries.
Guatemala’s consulate in Maryland confirmed that two of the missing were Guatemalan citizens working on the bridge. Mexico’s Washington consulate also confirmed in a statement posted on X that Mexican citizens were among the missing but did not say how many.
The Honduran man was identified as Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval by that country’s deputy foreign affairs minister.
Father Ako Walker, a Catholic priest at Sacred Heart of Jesus, said outside a vigil that he spent time with the families of the workers as they waited for news of their loved ones.
“You can see the pain etched on their faces,” Walker said.
The president of Mexico says three Mexicans were among the workers on the bridge when it collapsed.
Two of the Mexican workers are missing. The third was injured and rescued.
“He is safe now,” President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Wednesday.
López Obrador also highlighted the contributions migrant workers make to the U.S. economy.
“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.
INVESTIGATORS HOPE TO BOARD SHIP TO COLLECT EVIDENCE
National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy says investigators expect to have more information Wednesday on the timeline of events after information from a ship data recorder was sent to an agency lab.
Homendy says in an interview with WBAL-TV that the U.S. Coast Guard boarded the ship Tuesday and downloaded the voyage data recorder. It has been sent to the NTSB’s lab, and she says they expect to have information Wednesday on the timeline.
If the weather allows, Homendy says, investigators will board the ship to look for electronics and documentation. Their focus will be on collecting evidence.
Homendy said she hopes to have substantial information for the public later Wednesday.
“This was so completely unforeseen,” Pritzker said. “We don’t know what else to say. We take such great pride in safety, and we have cones and signs and lights and barriers and flaggers. But we never foresaw that the bridge would collapse.”
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