An international tragedy: A father of 3 and a budding entrepreneur are among 6 victims of the Baltimore bridge collapse

They worked the overnight shift fixing potholes on a famed bridge that 30,000 Marylanders relied on every day. But their work ended in tragedy March 26, when a 213-million-pound cargo vessel crashed into the bridge – plunging the construction workers into the frigid water below.

They worked the overnight shift fixing potholes on a famed bridge that 30,000 Marylanders relied on every day. But their work ended in tragedy March 26, when a 213-million-pound cargo vessel crashed into the bridge – plunging the construction workers into the frigid water below. After a daylong search, officials called off the rescue mission and said six workers were presumed dead. It was virtually impossible to survive the bitterly cold, 50-foot-deep water for several hours. And it was too treacherous for divers to navigate the dark water amid sharp debris. It took six weeks for recovery crews to chip away at the debris and recover the last of the six victims. The agony and grief transcended borders, as the six construction workers hailed from Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico and Guatemala – though many had called Maryland home for years. “We know our people are involved,” said Rafael Laveaga, chief of the Mexican Embassy in Washington’s consular section. “It was a crew who was repairing parts of the potholes on the bridge, and they’re the ones who are going to build the bridge again – the Latinos.” These are the fathers, brothers and sons whose lives made an impact near and far: José Mynor López’s family endured six weeks of agonizing uncertainty, wondering when the inevitable news would come.