Baltimore bridge collapse calls attention to growing Latino labor force and risks they face
Most of the missing workers presumed dead following the Baltimore bridge collapse are originally from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico — illustrating the increasing dangers Hispanic workers face as a third of the nation's construction workers.
Most of the workers killed or presumed dead following the Baltimore bridge collapse are originally from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico — illustrating the dangers Hispanic workers face as they continue to be overrepresented in the construction industry.
Eight construction workers were fixing potholes on the Francis Scott Key Bridge's roadway early Tuesday when an immense cargo ship experiencing technical issues after it lost power accidentally crashed into the bridge, causing it to collapse into the Patapsco River. Two workers who survived were rescued from the water, and search efforts for the remaining six were underway all day Wednesday.
“The hope we have is to be able to see the body," Fredy Suazo, the brother of Maynor Suazo, one of the missing construction workers presumed dead, told NBC News. "We want to see him, find him, know whether he is dead because we don’t know anything."
"My brother is the engine of the family. He was everything to us; he was the best," Suazo's sister Norma tearfully told Noticias Telemundo about her missing brother.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration at the U.S. Department of Labor considers construction as "a high hazard industry" in which workers are exposed to serious risks such as falling from rooftops, being struck by heavy construction equipment and being hurt or killed by unguarded machinery.
Rating: 5