U.S. News

Baltimore Bridge Worker Escaped Collapse With Last-Minute Shift Swap

‘THANKS TO GOD’

Moises Diaz told the New York Post he “would have been in the water right now” if not for the late change.

A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) worker looks on at the cargo vessel Dali, which struck and collapsed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.
Peter Knudson/NTSB

A construction worker is thanking God while mourning his colleagues after he revealed he was meant to be working on the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed in Baltimore Tuesday after a ship rammed into it. Moises Diaz, who works for Brawner Builders, told the New York Post that he was saved by a last-minute shift change and is now in mourning for his lost colleagues, whom he described as “family.” Speaking through a translater, Diaz told the outlet, “If I didn’t ask to switch, I would have been in the water right now. It’s tragic. I’m really appreciative that I wasn’t on the bridge. I give thanks to God.” The bodies of two construction workers were found in a red pickup truck submerged in 25 feet of water on Wednesday, while another four missing men are presumed dead, with authorities claiming they believe their bodies are encased in the concrete wreckage submerged in the water. The two men were identified as 35-year-old Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes of Baltimore, originally from Mexico, and 26-year-old Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, of Dundalk, Maryland, who hailed from Guatemala. “They were good people,” Diaz said of his colleagues. The crew was on a break after fixing potholes on the bridge at the time the ship lost power and slammed into 1.6-mile-long structure.

Read it at New York Post