The body of the sixth and final victim of the tragic Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, Maryland, has now been recovered and identified.
The collapse of the bridge on March 26, caused by the Dali container ship losing power and colliding into a support column, shocked the world as six construction workers were killed.
While five of them were recovered and named, on Tuesday authorities recovered and identified the final victim of the collapse, naming him as 37-year-old Jose Mynor Lopez, a construction worker from Baltimore who was working on the bridge when it collapsed.
‘Today, Jose Mynor Lopez, the sixth and final missing victim, was recovered,’ Baltimore Mayor Brandon M Scott said on X, formerly Twitter.
The joint task force made up of local and state police, the US Coast Guard and other government agencies, said Lopez’s family had been notified.
While five of them were recovered and named, on Tuesday authorities recovered and identified the final victim of the collapse, naming him as 37-year-old Jose Mynor Lopez (pictured)
Lopez was a construction worker from Baltimore who was working on the bridge when it collapsed
The 1,000-foot Dali ship (pictured) had issued a Mayday call moments before the collision
Maryland State Police said the recovery of the body was a ‘milestone’ in recovery efforts.
Work to fully reopen the shipping channel would continue ‘as we close this chapter in this (recovery) effort,’ Scott said.
The 1,000-foot Dali ship had issued a Mayday call moments before the collision which gave police time to stop traffic to the bridge, likely saving lives.
But an eight-man construction crew repairing potholes on the bridge could not be reached in time, and plummeted with the tons of concrete and twisted steel into the Patapsco River.
The other victims were named in the days and weeks after the collapse.
Miguel Angel Luna Gonzalez, 49, was described as a loving father and an exceptional person.
Workers cut steal portions of the Key Bridge for recycling after after the cargo ship Dali collided and collapsed it in the Patapsco River entrance to Baltimore Harbor
The bridge of the cargo ship Dali is seen through the remains of the Key Bridge
A memorial site to honor the construction workers who lost their lives in the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge sits on the side of the road near the blockade to Fort Armistead Park
He had been living in the US for 19 years, after moving from El Salvador.
Gustavo Torres, the executive director of CASA, which describes itself as a ‘national immigrant mobilization powerhouse’, previously said of Gonzalez: ‘He really wanted to be a small business owner, and part of his passion was to make a contribution to the community.’
Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, meanwhile, came from Honduras 17 years ago, and was last to rest on April 20, a week before his 39th birthday. He left behind a wife and two children.
Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes was reportedly among the first of the victims to have been identified following the bridge’s collapse.
He left Mexico 15 years ago and joined his mother and sister in the US, and was living in Baltimore at the time of his death.
Birds rest on remains of the Key Bridge after the cargo ship Dali collided and collapsed it
Miguel Angel Luna Gonzalez
Baltimore bridge worker Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes
Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval from Honduras
Carlos Daniel Hernández
Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera
26-year-old Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera was originally from Guatemala, and was the second youngest of the six victims.
The youngest was Carlos Daniel Hernández, who was just 24. During a visit to Baltimore in the aftermath of the collapse, President Joe Biden read a text Hernández sent his girlfriend before his death.
He wrote: ‘We just poured cement, and we’re waiting for it to dry.’
Biden said in response to Hernández’s texts: ‘We will not rest, as Carlos said, until the cement has dried on the entirety of a new bridge — a new bridge.’
The Dali container ship has been stationary amid the wreckage since the collapse, but crews plan to refloat and remove the ship, allowing more maritime traffic to resume through Baltimore’s port.
Officials expect to have it removed by May 10, according to a Port of Baltimore news release.