The lone survivor of the catastrophic collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge, Julio Cervantes Suarez, has broken his silence, revealing the harrowing ordeal that continues to haunt him.
"I relive it all the time, the minutes before that fall and when I'm falling," Suarez confessed in an interview with NBC's "Today" show. He added, "I think maybe there is still a goal for me."
As reported by The New York Post, Suarez, a 37-year-old worker, was part of a seven-member crew tasked with repairing potholes on the ill-fated bridge on March 26. The bridge was struck by a colossal cargo ship, causing it to crumble into the Patapsco River. Among the crew members who tragically lost their lives were Suarez's nephew and brother-in-law.
Suarez recounted the chilling moment when the cargo ship Dali, en route to Sri Lanka, lost power and drifted into one of the bridge's support columns, resulting in the catastrophic collapse. The crew members were taking a break in their vehicles when the disaster struck. Suarez's truck plummeted 18 stories into the murky depths of the river. "That's when I realized what happened," he shared. "I looked at the bridge and it was no longer there."
Despite not knowing how to swim, Suarez was fortunate that his truck had manual windows. This allowed him to open them and float to safety as the water level rose to his neck. He managed to reach a fragment of the collapsed bridge and began calling out to his colleagues by name. The silence that followed confirmed his worst fears - they were gone.
In the midst of his grief, Suarez, along with the families of the victims, has announced plans to sue the cargo ship's owners. Justin Miller, one of Suarez's attorneys, highlighted the physical and psychological toll the incident has taken on his client. "He ingested all of that bad water," Miller stated. "He has a torn meniscus. He has other kinds of psychological problems that he's going to deal with forever."
The horrifying incident was captured on video, showing the cargo ship losing power and colliding with one of the bridge's main support columns, resulting in the bridge's main span plunging into the river. Subsequent investigations revealed that the Dali had experienced power blackouts as recently as 10 hours prior to the Key Bridge disaster, reportedly due to crew members inadvertently shutting off an exhaust damper. This tragic event underscores the importance of stringent safety measures and thorough inspections in preventing such devastating incidents.
Login