What we know about the victims In Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse

Two of the six construction workers presumed dead after a massive container ship collided with Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge have now been identified.

Miguel Luna and Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval were named by family members as being among the workers on the bridge who went missing after the structure collapsed into the river below.

On Wednesday, officials announced that they had recovered two bodies from the Patapsco River, belonging to construction workers Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera after they were found inside a submerged vehicle .

The missing men are “hard-working, humble men,” according to a fellow employee of Brawner Builders, which had hired construction workers to refill potholes when the tragic incident occurred.

Unfortunately, Brawner Builders suspect that the workers could not have survived the bridge collapse.

“We’re presuming that they are not alive, because they were thrown into the bay in an area that’s 50 feet deep, with 46-degree temperature, probably buried under tons of steel,” Jeffrey Pritzker, executive vice president of Brawner Builders, told The Baltimore Banner.

“The company is in mourning and it’s a terrible, unanticipated tragedy.”

Workers and vehicles were on the bridge when a cargo ship Dali slammed into the bridge around 1.30am ET on Tuesday morning, causing its total collapse.

Now time has passed with little success in finding the workers, the US Coast Guard said the search will now shift to a recovery mission.

Here’s what we know about the victims of the Baltimore bridge collapse so far:

Miguel Luna

Miguel Luna is the first of six victims who went missing when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed on Tuesday to be named.

Luna is one of the men who is now presumed dead, his wife María del Carmen Castellón told NBC sister station Telemundo 44 in Spanish.

When the bridge fell, it caused a colossal collapse and most were not allowed access to the disaster area; however, Ms Castellón said family members like her were able to get into the restricted zone while they desperately waited to hear news of their loved ones.

“They only tell us that we have to wait, that for now, they can’t give us information,” she said earlier in the day.

“[We feel] devastated, devastated because our heart is broken, because we don’t know if they’ve rescued them yet. We’re just waiting to hear any news.”

One relative of Luna’s also told Sky News they were “distraught” as they waited to hear news, and that some family members were taken to a location in Baltimore by police, where they could be with families of the other missing people.

His loved ones reportedly said he is from El Salvador and has children.

Luna was also identified by the non-profit organisation Casa, which provides services around Baltimore and other areas to immigrant communities.

“Miguel Luna, from El Salvador, left at 6:30 p.m. Monday evening for work and since, has not come home. He is a husband, a father of three, and has called Maryland his home for over 19 years,” Casa wrote in a statement.

One of Luna’s children, Marvin Luna, told The Washington Post that he knew his father was working on the Key Bridge overnight but did not know it collapsed until one of his friends called him up and said, “The bridge is … gone.”

Marvin then called his father’s phone, but there was no reply.

Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval

Another of the workers missing and presumed dead since the bridge collapse in Baltimore has been named as Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, according to Martin Suazo, his brother.

Martin, who lives in Honduras, told CNN that his family over in Baltimore called him to tell him that his brother was missing after the container ship crashed into the bridge.

He is originally from Azacualpa in Honduras, and had been living in the United States for over 18 years. He is married, and has an 18-year-old son and a five-year-old daughter.

His brother told the outlet that Sandoval was an entrepreneur who had started his own maintenance company, venturing to the US “in search of a better life,” Martin told the outlet.

Martin said his family were holding onto hope that his brother could be found alive, but now hope at least his body will be recovered so they can give him a proper goodbye.

The Honduras Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Antonio García also confirmed to The Associated Press that Sandoval was missing and that they had been in contact with Suazo’s family.

In an interview with Honduran newspaper La Prensa, Sandoval’s brother Martin Suazo said in Spanish, “What we’re living is inexplicable. We wish it wasn’t real. We’re dismayed, especially the agony of not knowing when they’re going to find the body.”

One of eight siblings, the construction worker was described by another one of his brothers, Carlos Suazo Sandoval, as a “joyful person who had a vision.”

“We still have faith until this moment, God grant the miracle, it would be beautiful,” Carlos told CNN en Español on Wednesday. “We still have hope, I know that time is our worst enemy.”

The Suazo family are now focusing on having Sandoval’s body found, and if they do, they plan to repatriate the body to Honduras, Carlos said.

The Honduran Embassy told Martin Suazo that it would work with him to bring his brother’s body back to the country for funeral arrangements.

Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes

Two bodies have been recovered from the Patapsco River after the deadly collapse of the bridge, officials announced on Wednesday.

Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Baltimore was one of the men discovered by divers who spotted a submerged red pickup truck in around 25 feet of water.

Fuentes was a construction worker, found trapped within the vehicle alongside Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera.

The tragic announcement was made at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, held by personnel from the US Coast Guard, the Maryland Department of Transportation and state Governor Wes Moore.

One of the victims was identified by a driver’s license in his pocket, another by a fingerprint, Colonel Roland L Butler, superintendent of the Maryland Department of State Police said.

Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera

Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Dundalk, also a construction worker, was found trapped inside the submerged pickup truck alongside Fuentes, officials confirmed.

Pima Castillo, Cabrera’s sister-in-law told CNN that he had been working at Brawner Builders for at least three years and loved his job.

Cabrera was not married and did not have any children, his sister-in-law said.

The construction worker’s cousin, Marlon Castillo, also told CNN that Cabrera came to the US to follow his dream and help his mother.

“Unfortunately, he was in a place where no one imagined what was going to happen,” Marlon Castillo told the outlet.

‘Hard-working, humble men’

Members of a construction crew, employed by contractor Brawner Builders, were refilling potholes when the incident occurred, officials said.

Brawner Builders employee Jesus Campos toldThe Baltimore Banner that the missing individuals are all men in their 30s and 40s and all have children and spouses.

“They are all hard-working, humble men,” Mr Campos told the outlet.

Those presumed deceased are from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Guatemala’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs previously said that among the unaccounted-for workers were two Guatemalans in a statement. One person is believed to be a 26-year-old from San Luis, Peten and another a 35-year-old from Camotan, Chiquimula; the ministry did not release their names.

The victims of the bridge collapse also include Mexican nationals, according to Rafael Laveaga, Chief of the Consular Section of Mexico’s Embassy in Washington, CNN said.

However, Mr Laveaga did not specify how many of the missing people were from Mexico. The Mexican Embassy also posted on X saying that Mexican citizens were among the workers.

Mr Campos told NBC that he had been working on the bridge only a month before this week’s tragic incident.

“It could’ve been me,” Mr Campos said. “Around a month ago I was working on the bridge… we had been moved to the day shift and they went at night.”

However, he believes that nothing could have been done to save the workers in time and evacuate them.

“It happened in the blink of an eye… It couldn’t be done,” he added.

Construction boss doesn’t think men could have survived

Jeffrey Pritzker, executive vice president of Brawner Builders, told the outlet that he does not believe the workers could have survived the shocking incident.

“We’re presuming that they are not alive, because they were thrown into the bay in an area that’s 50 feet deep, with 46-degree temperature, probably buried under tons of steel,” Mr Pritzker said.

“The company is in mourning and it’s a terrible, unanticipated tragedy.”

He also told NBC that the six missing people are presumed dead. The company previously confirmed to the outlet that one of its team members was working on the bridge at the time, but they did not specify it was one of Mr Campos’ coworkers.

Coast Guard suspends search

The Coast Guard told reporters at a Tuesday evening press conference that the search was paused at 7.30pm ET, and would resume on Wednesday morning as a recovery effort with divers being used to search for bodies.

“I’d like to announce tonight that based on the length of time that we’ve gone in this search, the extensive search efforts we’ve put into it, the water temperature, that at this point we do not believe that we’re going to find any of these individuals still alive,” said Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath.

Mr Butler said on Wednesday evening that agencies were transitioning from a “recovery mode” to “salvage recovery operation.”