BALTIMORE — New body camera from the Baltimore Police Department shows the rescue of the only construction workers to survive the fall from the Frances Scott Key Bridge back in March. Officers are seen in the video helping Julio Cervantes Suarez onto the dock.
Shortly after leaving the Port of Baltimore early on March 26, the cargo ship Dali lost power and propulsion and crashed into one of the bridge’s supporting columns, causing its collapse and killing six construction workers, including Cervantes Suarez’s nephew and brother-in-law.
Cervantes Suarez, 37, said the men were sitting in their construction vehicles during a break when the bridge suddenly started crumbling beneath them. A last-minute mayday call from the ship’s pilot had allowed nearby police officers to stop traffic to the bridge just moments earlier, but they didn’t have enough time to alert the construction workers.
Faced with almost certain death, Cervantes Suarez said he thanked God for his family.
Miraculously, he was able to manually roll down the window of his rapidly sinking truck and climb out into the frigid water.
He said he called out to his companions by name, but no one answered him. Unable to swim, he clung to a piece of floating concrete until he was rescued by first responders. He was hospitalized for treatment of a chest wound.
The ship’s owner and manager, both Singapore-based companies, filed a court petition soon after the collapse seeking to limit their legal liability. The City of Baltimore, among other entities, have challenged that claim and accused the companies of negligence. Lawyers representing victims of the collapse and their families, including Cervantes Suarez, have also pledged to hold the companies accountable.
A federal court in Maryland will ultimately decide who’s responsible and how much they owe in what could become one of the most expensive maritime disasters in history.
Maryland has estimated the cost of a new bridge to be between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion. The state plans to build a new span by the fall of 2028.