Divers searching for six Baltimore construction workers who were on the Francis Scott Key Bridge when it collapsed recovered two bodies from a pickup truck they found submerged in water on Wednesday, officials said.
The big picture: The workers, whom authorities identified at a briefing as Dorlián Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Dundalk, and Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Baltimore, were among a group filling potholes on the bridge when it collapsed after a cargo ship struck it.
- The Guatemalan government confirmed Wednesday that Castillo Cabrera was a citizen of the country. It said Tuesday that at least two of the workers whom authorities said were presumed dead were citizens of Guatemala. Officials said the others were from Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador.
- An investigation into what caused the Dali ship to lose power and crash into the bridge was expected to take 12 to 24 months to complete, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said Wednesday evening.
What's happening: Maryland State Police Superintendent Roland Butler said at the briefing that authorities had informed the workers' families after searchers in the Port of Baltimore found the bodies just before 10am Wednesday.
- The victims were found trapped in the red pickup beneath 25 feet of water in the Patapsco River near where the middle of the bridge had collapsed, Butler said.
- "Based upon the conditions, we're now moving from a recovery mode to a salvage operation because of the superstructure surrounding what we believe are the vehicles and the amount of concrete and debris, divers are no longer able to safely navigate or operate around that in the areas around this wreckage," Butler said.
Go deeper: What to know about the ripple effects of the Baltimore bridge collapse
Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.
