The sole survivor of the construction crew working on the Francis Scott Key Bridge shared how he survived the plunge into dark waters below when a container ship struck the bridge in March.
Julio Cervantes Suarez was one of seven construction workers on the Baltimore bridge in the early morning hours of March 26 when portions of the bridge dramatically fell into the Patapsco River below. He was the only one to live to tell the tale, and shared his story of survival with NBC News' Tom Llamas.
“I thanked God for 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.
Cervantes Suarez, 37, thought when his truck fell into the water from the center of the bridge that he might never make it out.
He had been working that night fixing potholes on the bridge with his crew, which included his nephew, brother-in-law and friends he had known for years. The crew were all in their cars on a break when the entire bridge began to shake, he said.
Cervantes Suarez then saw his co-workers go down into the water, before he started to fall. After his truck fell nearly 18 stories into the river, he said the water came up to his neck and he was unable to open the doors to escape.
The windows of his truck were manual, so he was able to roll them down and escape through the window, he said.
“That’s when I realized what happened. I looked at the bridge and it was no longer there,” Cervantes Suarez said.
He recalled calling his co-workers out by name, “but no one answered me,” he said. That’s when he knew they were gone.
Cervantes Suarez, who doesn't know how to swim, said he managed to grab ahold of a piece of the bridge lodged in the river and float until he was rescued. He was taken to an area hospital and released the next day, according to NBC News.
He said he still has pain in his chest, left knee and foot, but the emotional damage will stay with him.
“I relive it all the time, the minutes before the fall and when I’m falling,” he said.
He doesn't know why he survived the collapse, Cervantes Suarez said.
“I think maybe there is still a goal for me,” he said.
Cervantes Suarez and the families of the victims are planning to file a lawsuit against all of the companies involved with the ship in coming weeks, attorneys for Cervantes Suarez said.
“He ingested all of that bad water. He has torn meniscus. He has other other kinds of psychological problems that he’s going to deal with forever,” Justin D. Miller, an attorney for Cervantes Suarez, said.
Maryland's senators have pushed for Congress to cover the full $1.7 billion cost to repair the bridge, including testifying on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
“A foreign vessel hit an American Bridge and killed Americans and they have asked the court to not be held responsible,” L. Chris Stewart, an attorney for Cervantes Suarez, said.
Maryland officials hope to have the bridge rebuilt by 2028.
