Two Bodies Found Near Baltimore Bridge Collapse Site |

The bodies of two people have been recovered from the site of the Baltimore bridge that collapsed into a river early Tuesday when a ship crashed into it, said Col. Roland L. Butler Jr., superintendent for Maryland State Police.

Butler said Wednesday that a 35-year-old and a 26-year-old were recovered from a red pickup truck in the Patapsco River near the mid-span of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge.

The six construction workers who were missing and presumed dead were from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, Butler said.

Gov. Wes Moore told the families of the victims in Spanish, “Estamos contigo, ahora y siempre” which means, “We are with you, now and always.”

Earlier, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said it was too soon to say how long it will take to reopen the Port of Baltimore or replace the destroyed bridge.

Buttigieg noted at a White House news briefing Wednesday that the bridge took five years to construct.

“That does not necessarily mean it will take five years to replace,” he said.

Coast Guard Vice Adm. Peter Gautier says hazardous materials aboard the damaged ship pose no threat to public safety.

Gautier said at the briefing that the ship is holding over 1.5 million gallons of fuel, and that more than 50 of the cargo containers on board contain hazardous material. But he says that the ship is stable and that authorities have determined there is no safety risk.

“There is no threat to the public,” he says.

The investigation picked up speed as the Baltimore region reeled from the sudden loss of a major transportation link that's part of the highway loop around the city. The disaster also closed the port that is vital to the city's shipping industry.

Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board boarded the ship and planned to recover information from its electronics and paperwork, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said.

The agency also is reviewing the voyage data recorder recovered by the Coast Guard and building a timeline of what led to the crash, which federal and state officials have said appeared to be an accident.

MARYLAND GOVERNOR TAKES A CLOSER LOOK AT DAMAGE IN BALTIMORE

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is taking a closer look at the aftermath of the bridge collapse in Baltimore.

Moore boarded a Coast Guard ship with federal and local officials Wednesday to better understand the path the ship that caused the collapse took and how the crash happened, the governor’s office said. His office said his goal was to support the Coast Guard and other federal partners, thank first responders, and learn more about what happened.

SINGAPORE PLANS ITS OWN INVESTIGATION

Officials in Singapore say they will conduct their own investigation into the bridge collapse, in addition to supporting U.S. authorities.

The ship that struck the bridge, the Dali, was traveling under a Singaporean flag. The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said Wednesday it was working with the ship’s management company, Synergy Marine Group, to get information to the U.S. Coast Guard for its investigation.

The agency also said Singapore’s Transport Safety Investigation Bureau will independently investigate, not to determine liability, but to identify lessons for the future.

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.