The only person to survive the fall into the Patapsco River when a cargo ship crashed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in March described his experience for the first time during an interview Wednesday with NBC News.
Julio Cervantes Suarez was among the seven construction workers who were on the bridge during the moment of impact. All were on their break at the time, and Cervantes Suarez, like some others, was inside his truck.
The 37-year-old said he saw family members, including nephew Carlos Daniel Hernandez and brother-in-law Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, fall into the river.
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“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 for everything I’ve done,” he said in Spanish.
The water “came up to my neck” after his truck became submerged, Cervantes Suarez said, explaining that he had to manually roll down a window to escape the sinking vehicle since the doors wouldn’t open.
“That’s when I realized what happened. I looked at the bridge and it was no longer there,” he recalled.
As for his coworkers, he remembered calling out to each of them. “But no one answered me,” he said.
Fortunately for Cervantes Suarez, who cannot swim, he found a section of floating concrete and climbed on top of it. There, he was able to alert rescuers to his location with the flashlight on his helmet.
Cervantes Suarez and some victims’ families are planning legal action against the companies that own and operate the ship, their lawyers told NBC. The city of Baltimore, also, has alleged that their “negligence” means they should be liable for whatever damages a jury awards.
