A construction worker was resting in his car when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed early Tuesday morning, his wife said.
Julio Cervantes was one of eight construction workers on the bridge when it collapsed, his wife told NBC on Thursday: “When the boat hit , all people were resting in the car. We don’t know if they received warning before the impact.”
“My husband can’t swim. It’s a miracle that he survived,” Cervantes’ wife said. She added that her husband was treated for chest injuries at the hospital and was discharged the same day.
Officials announced Wednesday that the bodies of two men trapped in a car were recovered from the Patapsco River.
The two men are Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, who is from Mexico and lives in Baltimore; and Dorian Roniel, 26 Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, who is from Guatemala and lives in Dundalk, Maryland.
Divers found the body inside a red pickup truck in the river near the bridge’s midspan, officials said.
Cervantes’ wife, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told NBC her brother-in-law was one of the people whose bodies were found but did not name him.
Four other construction workers on the bridge are still missing and are presumed dead. Authorities said there were eight workers on the bridge from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
Cervantes’ wife also said her nephew was among the other missing men, NBC reported, adding that her entire family is of Mexican descent.
Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that the two missing people were from the states of Veracruz and Michoacán.
Others missing include Miguel Luna, 49, of El Salvador, a husband and father of three who has lived in Maryland for more than 19 years; and Meno Assi, 38 Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, from Azacualpa, Honduras, is a missing person. Married and a father of two, he has lived in the United States for 18 years and started his own repair business.
As of Wednesday afternoon, a crowdfunding campaign launched by Latino Circle for Racial Justice, a nonprofit serving the Baltimore area, had raised nearly $100,000 for the victims’ families. The funds will be distributed to households to cover basic needs such as rent, groceries and utilities, the campaign said.
