Divers have recovered the bodies of two construction workers who fell into the water following the Baltimore bridge collapse.
Cargo ship Dali collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday morning (26 March) just before 1.30am in Maryland, USA.
The ship left the Baltimore port at 12.45am local time and was headed for Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Advert
However, the ship appeared to lose power minutes before its devastating collision at 1.28am.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is reviewing the voyage data recorder recovered by the Coast Guard and is building a timeline of what led to the crash.
At least eight people went into the water, two were rescued and the another two have been been identified as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, who were working at the time of the collision.
The remaining others, from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, are presumed dead.
“Based on the length of time that we've gone in this search... (and) the water temperature... at this point we do not believe that we're going to find any of these individuals still alive,” Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath said.
"We've got to give these families closure," Wes Moore, governor of Maryland, told reporters on Wednesday.
"My promise to them is this: I will devote every single resource to make sure that you receive closure."
"They are down there in darkness where they can literally see about a foot in front of them," he said of the rescue divers.
"They are trying to navigate mangled metal, and they’re also in a place it is now presumed that people have lost their lives."
Typically, the highway carries 30,000 vehicles a day as Cat Watson, who takes the bridge to work everyday, said: “A lot of people don’t realise how important the port is just to everything.
“We’re going to be feeling it for a very long time.”
Taking to X, US President Joe Biden said: "Earlier today, I sat down with Secretary of Transportation Buttigieg and Vice Admiral Gautier to discuss the coordinated response to the collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge.
"We'll be with the people of Baltimore for as long as it takes."
"The people of Baltimore can count on us to stick with them at every step of the way until the port is reopened and Francis Scott Key Bridge is rebuilt," he also tweeted yesterday.
"We’re not leaving until it’s done."