Officials ID 4th body found in bridge debris
Mexican government confirms identity of man found submerged in work vehicle
The fourth body to be recovered from the site of the Key Bridge collapse was that of Carlos Daniel Hernández, according to officials from his home country of Mexico.
“Carlos Daniel represents our Mexican workers in the USA,” said Alicia Bárcena, Mexico’s secretary of foreign affairs, in a tweet in Spanish on Monday night. “Our deepest condolences and consular support go out to his family.”
The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs “will continue to stay in permanent contact with Carlos Daniel’s family and other relatives affected by this terrible event, providing them with all the necessary support,” reads another post from the ministry on the social platform X.
In a news release Monday, officials from the Key Bridge Unified Command center said that the salvage team working to remove the bridge from the river located a construction vehicle in the water and found the body inside Sunday. The news release did not identify whose body it was at the family’s request.
Two workers killed in the collapse remain missing: Miguel Luna, a 49-yearold father and grandfather from El Salvador who was living in Glen Burnie, and José Mynor López, a father of four who was originally from Guatemala and lived in Dundalk.
Hernández was one of three members of one family who were working together on the Key Bridge when it collapsed March 26, said Sergio Aguirre, a spokesperson for the Embassy of Mexico in Washington, D.C.
Hernández was born in the western Mexican state of Michoacán, which borders the Pacific Ocean. He was related to Alejandro Hernández Fuentes, who also died in the collapse, and Julio Adrian Cervantes Suarez, who was one of two people to survive the disaster. Hernández Fuentes and Cervantes Suarez were brothers-in-law.
A memorial service for Hernández Fuentes, who was born in Veracruz, Mexico, and was the foreman of the construction crew, was held Friday in
Dundalk. Friends have remembered him as a hardworking man, a devout Christian and a loving father of four.
Cervantes Suarez was the only person to fall into the chilly waters of the Patapsco River that night and survive, according to attorneys representing him and the families of two victims of the collapse. The other survivor, an inspector contracted by the state, was able to flee the bridge and refused hospitalization.
An attorney representing Cervantes Suarez said Monday that he was able to escape from his work vehicle, which had plunged into the water, by rolling down the window and climbing out. Although he did not know how to swim, the injured Cervantes Suarez was able to cling to debris until he could be rescued, said attorney L. Chris Stewart.
Stewart said the workers on the bridge, who were taking a break in their vehicles at the time of the collapse, were not warned about the approach of the Dali, the massive cargo ship drifting toward the bridge after its power cut out. Authorities were able to block the bridge to traffic, likely saving lives, officials have said.