‘Find all the bodies’: Leaders pray for Baltimore Key Bridge collapse victims
At a prayer vigil Tuesday evening in Dundalk, faith leaders called for divine help to find the bodies of the six construction workers now presumed dead after the morning collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
“Find all the bodies,” prayed the Rev. Robert Turner of Empowerment Temple AME Church in West Baltimore at the interfaith vigil held at Mt. Olive Baptist Church of Turner Station. “Find the bodies, Lord.”
Baltimore City and Baltimore County officials, accompanied by pastors, an imam and a rabbi, called on the community to provide strength for the families of the workers Tuesday evening.
U.S. Coast Guard officials said Tuesday night after the vigil that they were suspending active search and rescue efforts for the construction workers who were part of a Brawner Builders night crew filling potholes on the bridge. Six workers have been missing since the bridge collapsed at around 1:30 a.m. after the container ship Dali collided with a support column.
Two people were rescued from the water Tuesday, officials said, and one was treated and released from a hospital.
Jeffrey Pritzker, executive vice president of Brawner Builders of Hunt Valley, said six employees were presumed dead and that a seventh worker had been on the bridge when it collapsed.
One missing worker, Miguel Luna, is a father of three and a member of CASA Maryland, an immigrant rights organization. Originally from El Salvador, he has lived in Maryland for 19 years, a CASA spokesperson said. His wife asked that he come home safely to his family. Officials have not identified the other five workers.
The General Consulate of Guatemala in Maryland said in a Facebook post-Tuesday that two of the missing workers were from that country.
Gloria Nelson, president of Turner Station Conversation Teams, a community group, said her heart had gone out to those who fell into the water of the Patapsco River, which was colder than 50 degrees early Tuesday morning. She reached out to Elder Rashad Singletary, senior pastor at the Dundalk church, to put together a healing event.
“We just thought prayer was appropriate,” Nelson said. “It’s been an emotional roller coaster day.”
At the vigil, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. thanked first responders, emphasized the unity between the city and the county in moments of crisis, and called for ongoing support for the affected families.
“We can only imagine what is going through their minds and through their hearts and through their bodies,” Scott said of the families. “We have to lift them up, not just today, not just tomorrow but for the foreseeable future.”
Olszewski cited President Joe Biden’s promise to fund the iconic bridge’s reconstruction as a reason for hope. “A ship has knocked down an incredible structure but think about what has already [been] making moves,” he said. “The president of the free world is saying ‘I will be there, I will be there with the full support of a free country.'”
Meanwhile, bishops of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, including Archbishop Lori, simultaneously celebrated a Mass on Tuesday night elsewhere in honor of the victims, said Father Ako Walker.
Walker, the pastor at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Highlandtown, offered a prayer in Spanish in Dundalk for victims of the tragedy and their suffering families. The disaster occurred during Holy Week, which marks the lead-up to Easter and the end of Lent for Catholics.
The priest had spent time with the families of the missing workers throughout the day. “For them, it’s a lot of waiting. They’re just waiting,” Walker said in an interview after the vigil.
“The six of them are Hispanic and that makes a serious impact not only on them, but as the news gets out to the wider community, especially at Sacred Heart of Jesus, where the community is 98% Hispanic,” he said.
Baltimore Sun reporters Jean Marbella and Dillon Mullan contributed to this article.