Body of sixth construction worker killed in US bridge collapse recovered

Washington:

The body of the sixth and final victim who died after a container ship struck a bridge in the US city of Baltimore has been recovered, Maryland state authorities said on Tuesday.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge, a key transit link to the busy Port of Baltimore, collapsed on March 26 when the Dali container ship lost power and collided with a support column, killing six road construction workers.

The victim was identified by authorities as 37-year-old Jose Mynor Lopez, a construction worker from Baltimore, Maryland, who had been working on the bridge when it collapsed.

“Today, Jose Mynor Lopez, the sixth and final missing victim, was recovered,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott said on X, formerly Twitter.

The Unified Command, a joint task force made up of police, Coast Guard and government agencies that responded to the disaster, said Lopez’s family members had been notified.

Maryland State Police said the recovery of the body was a “milestone” in recovery efforts.

Work to fully reopen the ship canal will continue “as we complete this chapter of this (restoration) effort,” Scott said.

The 1,000-foot (300-meter) Dali ship had issued a mayday call shortly before the collision, giving police time to stop traffic to the bridge, likely saving lives.

But an eight-person construction crew repairing potholes on the bridge couldn’t get there in time, sending tons of concrete and twisted steel crashing into the Patapsco River.

Two workers were rescued alive, one had to be briefly hospitalized, the other was uninjured.

Both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Transportation Safety Board have opened criminal investigations into the disaster.

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