Final Body Recovered from Baltimore Key Bridge Collapse

The search for victims of the March 26 Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore has ended after the body of José Mynor López, 37, was recovered this week. 

On Tuesday, May, 7, city officials shared that Unified Command salvage teams discovered the sixth and final victim who died after a cargo ship collided with the structure causing eight construction workers to fall into the body of water below them.

“Maryland State Police investigators along with officers from the Maryland Transportation Authority Police and the FBI responded to the scene and recovered the body of a sixth construction worker,” a Key Bridge Unified Command press release read.

According to the release, Maryland State Police investigators, an FBI Victim Specialist, a linguist and a team of mental health professionals notified López’s family after a positive identification was confirmed.

“With heavy hearts, today marks a significant milestone in our recovery efforts and providing closure to the loved ones of the six workers who lost their lives in this tragic event,” Colonel Roland L. Butler, Jr., Superintendent of the Maryland Department of State Police, said.

“As we mourn with the families, we honor the memory of José Mynor López, Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, Maynor Yasir Suazo-Sandoval, Carlos Daniel Hernandez Estrella, and Miguel Angel Luna Gonzalez,” he continued. 

The incident occurred around 1:30 a.m. on March 26 as the construction workers were repairing potholes on the bridge. A container ship hit the Key Bridge, which led to its collapse, thus knocking the men into the Patapsco River, according to officials. 

A “mayday” call was issued after the ship lost power before striking the bridge, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore previously said at a press conference. 

He believed the outcome could have been far worse had the “mayday” not been called in time.

“We had officials that were able to begin to stop the flow of traffic so that more cars were not on the bridge,” Moore told reporters. “Many of the vehicles were stopped before they got on the bridge, which saved lives.”

Isabel Franco, López’s wife, spoke to WJZ News in late March, just days after the tragedy.

“I feel bad,” she told the news station in Spanish. “Only God knows how hard my heart aches. Maybe he was desperate, trying to escape.”

She added that police attempted to inform her of their search efforts with PowerPoint slides, but it was not in Spanish, so she was unable to understand.

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“She’s desperate. She feels bad. She doesn’t see anything. She doesn’t know anything and, yeah, she’s desperate,” Franco’s friend, Lilly Ordoñez, said while assisting with translating the conversation.

The widow said López moved from Guatemala to the U.S. 19 years ago. The couple shared one child together, and López was a father figure to Franco’s two other children.

“He had a good heart,” Franco told WJZ News. “He was a hard worker. He was always worried about his family too. He died but he was fighting for us always.”