“Los Yonkes,” a Baltimore-area group of pickup truck enthusiasts, typically organize neighborhood cruises, barbecues and birthday celebrations.
Saturday they put out a call on social media for people to join them in a show of support for the six construction workers who died when a cargo ship rammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge early Tuesday morning, collapsing it.
With flowers, crosses and flags of home, dozens of people on Sunday propped up Easter memorials by the west end of the bridge to the fathers and sons who died.
“The flags are the pride of our country,” Fernando Sajche, one of the organizers from the Brooklyn neighborhood, said in Spanish. “We’re hoping they can recover the bodies. It is hard for the families to properly grieve when they are still separated from the bodies.”
The victims, ranging in age from their 20s to 40s, had come from El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and Honduras. Two of the bodies have been found, and four remain missing.
The crosses planted Sunday behind a Royal Farms off Fort Smallwood Road in the Fairfield Area neighborhood were decorated with work helmets, vests and flags. Easter Mass across the city lamented the loss.
Sajche, originally from Guatemala, said victim Manuel Luna, originally from El Salvador, was a local celebrity for his wife’s food truck in Glen Burnie.
“The whole world knows their food,” Sajche said in Spanish.
Sunday crews began removing parts of the bridge while the joint command is planning a temporary alternate channel on the northeast side of the main channel for commercially essential vessels.
March 31, 2024: Flags are added to represent each of the countries that the six workers who died in the Francis Scott Key disaster came from. At left is the Guatemalan flag, and in front of the unfinished mural are two Mexican flags. (Amy Davis/Staff photo)
March 31, 2024: A small crowd gathers to view the new memorial erected off of Fort Smallwood Road to the six workers who perished when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after a container ship strike. (Amy Davis/Staff photo)
March 31, 2024: Fresh flowering boughs are added to the crosses erected for each of the six workers who died in the Francis Scott Key disaster at a memorial off Fort Smallwood Road. (Amy Davis/Staff photo)
March 31, 2024: Marasela Vargas, left, and other volunteers arrange the bunting to drape around the large cross at the memorial they are erecting off Fort Smallwood Road to honor the six works who perished in the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster. (Amy Davis/Staff photo)
March 31, 2024: Robert Marquez, a painter from Dallas, in front, came to Baltimore to help volunteers from Los Yonkes, a Latino truck and car club, build a memorial off Fort Smallwood Road to honor the six workers who died in the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster. (Amy Davis/Staff photo)
March 31, 2024: Roberto Marquez, a painter from Dallas, flew to Baltimore when he heard about the efforts by the Los Yonkes truck and car club to build a memorial for the six workers who perished in the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster. Marquez said “We want to build our place for our family, to honor their loved ones and find some hope.” (Amy Davis/Staff photo)
March 31, 2024: Volunteers erect a memorial off Fort Smallwood Road to the six workers who perished when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after a container ship strike. (Amy Davis/Staff photo)
March 31, 2024: Volunteers erect a memorial off Fort Smallwood Road to the six workers who perished when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after a container ship strike. (Amy Davis/Staff photo)
March 31, 2024: Marasela Vargas, left, and other volunteers erect a memorial off Fort Smallwood Road to the six workers who perished when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after a container ship strike. (Amy Davis/Staff photo)
March 31, 2024: Volunteers take a break after most of the structural memorial work is done. They are waiting for a flag from Honduras to display next to the cross at right. (Amy Davis/Staff photo)
March 31, 2024: Volunteers erect a memorial off of Fort Smallwood Road to the six workers who perished when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after a container ship strike. (Amy Davis/Staff photo)
Bernardo Vargas, on ladder, and Roberto Marquez, left, secure the final flag, from Honduras, on the memorial just erected Sunday near Fort Smallwood Road to honor the six construction workers who died when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after being struck by a container ship last week. (Amy Davis/Staff)
March 31, 2024: Volunteers erect a memorial off Fort Smallwood Road to the six workers who perished when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after a container ship strike. (Amy Davis/Staff photo)
March 31, 2024: Volunteers erect a memorial off of Fort Smallwood Road to the six workers who perished when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after a container ship strike. (Amy Davis/Staff photo)
March 31, 2024: Some members of Los Yonkes, the Latino truck and car club that planned the new memorial to the six workers who died working on the Francis Scott Key Bridge, take a break as the memorial construction is complete. From left, they are Marlon Paz, Janet Zepeda, Marasela Vargas and Alfonso Ortiz. (Amy Davis/Staff photo)
March 31, 2024: Fernando Sajche of Brooklyn secures one of the candles placed at the memorial to the six workers who died when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed from a container ship strike. Sajche organized the construction of a memorial near Fort Smallwood Road with help from members of his Latino truck and car club, Los Yonkes. (Amy Davis/Staff photo)
