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Brawner Builders, a Baltimore construction company, has confirmed one of its workers has survived the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.
The other six workers on the team are missing and presumed dead, confirmed Jeffrey Pritzker, Executive Vice President (EVP) of Brawner Builders to Business Insider.
The bodies are yet to be recovered but are presumed to have died given the depth of the water into which they fell, and the length of time that has passed since the incident, Pritzker told the Associated Press. The surviving worker is currently in hospital.
Pritzker confirmed that the seven workers were situated in the middle of the bridge when the cargo ship collided with the structure. “This was so completely unforeseen,” he said. “We don’t know what else to say.”
Pritzker added that safety was a major concern for Brawner Builders, but this was an unexpected, freak accident.
“It is a value that is fundamental to our culture. Year after year, our zero accident and injury policy helps put our safety performance right at the top of the industry,” a company page on safety says.
The construction company has a stop-work authority, which means if a procedure is not safe, employees are not expected to do it. It has an extensive 82-page safety policy.
“We take such great pride in safety, and we have cones and signs and lights and barriers and flaggers,” Pritzker explained. “But we never foresaw that the bridge would collapse.”
Brawner Builders has not disclosed the names of the workers at this time.
Archived radio traffic suggests an officer who had stopped traffic after being notified by the Maryland Transportation Authority, radioed to say he would notify the construction team, who were filling potholes on the bridge, once another officer arrived.
Seconds later, at around 01.30 ET, the Dali container ship – which had lost power after leaving Baltimore port bound for Singapore, collided with the bridge, resulting in its collapse into the Patapsco River.
Jesus Campos, a co-worker of the team who had previously worked the overnight shift on Francis Scott Key Bridge, said he heard about the collapse from a co-worker and immediately feared the worst. “When he told me that, they came to mind and I was praying to God that nothing had happened to them,” Campos said.
“It is so hard for me to describe. I know that a month ago I was there, and I know what it feels like when the trailers pass. Imagine knowing that it is falling. It is so hard, one would not know what to do,” he added.
Campos also spoke to the Baltimore Banner, stating the team includes men from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico in their 30s and 40s. “They are all hard-working, humble men,” he said.
Pritzker also spoke to the Baltimore Banner, saying that “the company is in mourning and it’s a terrible, unanticipated tragedy.”
