Baltimore bridge survivor demands reparations, responsibility
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A US federal court in Maryland is tasked with determining the party responsible and the cost of the reparations for the Baltimore bridge's collapse, which is expected to take several years and over $1.5 billion to rebuild.
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The Francis Scott Key Bridge sits on top of a cargo ship after the bridge collapsed in Baltimore on March 26, 2024. (AFP)
Julio Cervantes Suarez, the only construction worker survivor of March's Baltimore bridge collapse, wants the people responsible to pay for the damages even though "money is not going to buy a hug from a father or a son," he said in an interview with NBC News that aired Wednesday.
The Dali, the vessel that caused the collapse of Francis Scott Key Bridge, reported power outages before embarking from Baltimore to Sri Lanka, according to an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). However, the cause of the electrical problems is yet to be determined.
The Singaporean companies that own and manage the ship have aimed to minimize their liability in court, leaving the US federal court in Maryland to determine the party responsible and the cost of the reparations. The bridge is expected to take several years and over $1.5 billion to rebuild.
'I relive it all the time'
“If I had told him to come with me, maybe it would have been different,” Cervantes said, recounting the day he lost his nephew, Carlos Daniel Hernández, who was one of six men killed in the collapse.
“I relive it all the time – the minutes before the fall and when I’m falling," the survivor said, sharing how he told his relative to wait in the car which would eventually fall following the ship's collision with the bridge.
Cervantes was among seven Latino construction workers repairing potholes on the bridge on March 26. The crew, including his nephew and brother-in-law Alejandro Hernández Fuentes, were on break in their vehicles when the cargo ship collided with the bridge, sending Cervantes' truck plunging into the Patapsco River, the survivor described to NBC.
He managed to escape the submerged truck by manually rolling down the window as it sank and clinging to floating debris until rescuers arrived. He described his shock upon realizing the bridge had vanished in the collision.
“That’s when I realized what happened,” Cervantes told NBC, referring to the moment he was calling out men's names but failing to receive a response.
Officials took six weeks to recover all the bodies of Cervantes' relatives and co-workers.
'$2 billion reconstruction'
Officials have indicated that rebuilding the bridge could cost nearly $2 billion, with hopes for completion by 2028.
In the early hours of March 26, the cargo ship Dali collided with a critical support column of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing the span to collapse and sending six members of a roadwork crew to their deaths.
The Dali remained trapped amid the wreckage for nearly two months, with a massive steel truss draped across its damaged bow. On May 20, the ship was refloated and guided back to port, allowing officials to open a channel 50 feet (15 meters) deep and 400 feet (122 meters) wide, sufficient for most of the largest commercial vessels.
