Baltimore bridge survivor describes horror of collapse

Julio Cervantes Suarez says he watched friends and relatives die after plunging off bridge hit by cargo ship.

British Broadcasting CorporationWatchHomeNewsSportBusinessInnovationCultureTravelEarthVideoLiveHomeNewsIsrael-Gaza WarWar in UkraineUS & CanadaUKUK PoliticsEnglandN. IrelandN. Ireland PoliticsScotlandScotland PoliticsWalesWales PoliticsAfricaAsiaChinaIndiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastIn PicturesBBC VerifySportBusinessExecutive LoungeTechnology of BusinessWomen at the HelmFuture of BusinessInnovationTechnologyScience & HealthArtificial IntelligenceAI v the MindCultureFilm & TVMusicArt & DesignStyleBooksEntertainment NewsTravelDestinationsAfricaAntarcticaAsiaAustralia and PacificCaribbean & BermudaCentral AmericaEuropeMiddle EastNorth AmericaSouth AmericaWorld’s TableCulture & ExperiencesAdventuresThe SpeciaListEarthNatural WondersWeather & ScienceClimate SolutionsSustainable BusinessGreen LivingVideoLiveLive NewsLive SportHomeNewsSportBusinessInnovationCultureTravelEarthVideoLiveAudioWeatherNewslettersBaltimore bridge survivor describes horror of collapse23 hours agoBy Madeline Halpert, BBC News, New YorkShareGetty ImagesThe sole survivor of the Baltimore bridge disaster has told how he watched friends and relatives fall from the structure and die as he fought for his own life.

"I relive it all the time, the minutes before the fall and when I'm falling," Julio Cervantes Suarez told NBC News in his first interview since the 100,000-ton cargo ship, the Dali, crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on 26 March.

Mr Cervantes Suarez, 37, was one of seven maintenance workers fixing potholes at the time of impact. The force threw the van he was in off the structure and into the the Patapsco river around 180ft (50m) below.

He said he prepared for death.

"I thanked God for the family he gave me. I asked him to take care of my wife and kids. And I asked for forgiveness," he said in an interview in Spanish.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c51ykdlg08do

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