The body of the sixth and final victim who died in the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore was found on Tuesday, officials said, bringing to a close a difficult salvage mission after the country’s deadliest bridge collapse in more than a decade.
The victim, José Mynor López, 37, was a member of a work crew that had been filling potholes on the bridge when it was struck on March 26 by the Dali, a container ship on its way to Sri Lanka that apparently lost power after leaving the Port of Baltimore.
Five of his co-workers also died in the collapse, though it took six weeks to find all of the bodies, a daunting task that required divers to sift through mangled steel and crumbled concrete amid swift currents in murky water. Two other workers were rescued from the waters in the hours after the collapse.
All of the men who died were immigrants, from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. Mr. López was from Guatemala and had come to Baltimore for a better life, his brother, Jovani López, told The New York Times. He was married with two young children, a boy and girl, Jovani López said.
“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,” Col. Roland L. Butler Jr., superintendent of the Maryland Department of State Police, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Gov. Wes Moore, in a statement, offered prayers to the friends and families of the six men who died. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to enduring support and will forever remember the lives of these six Marylanders,” he said.
There is still work ahead. The Dali, which was carrying 4,700 shipping containers when it left the port, is still sitting in the Patapsco River under an enormous piece of the bridge, which is part of Interstate 695 and a critical transportation link on the East Coast. The authorities have announced a goal of restoring full access to the channel by the end of May.
This week, engineers are planning to remove a huge section of bridge weighing thousands of pounds that is sitting across the bow of the Dali, a complex task that involves handling collapsed pieces of the roadway, damaged shipping containers and pieces of the bridge supports.
Crews have removed 182 containers from the Dali as part of this operation. When completed, it will free the ship to be refloated and guided back to port.