A fourth body was recovered from the site of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse on Monday, according to officials.
The Key Bridge Response Unified Command announced the discovery in a statement. The body was retrieved from the waters on Sunday and positively identified by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on Monday.
The discovery comes weeks after the Key Bridge collapsed on Mar. 26. The container ship Dali hit one of the Key Bridge’s support piers while leaving the Port of Baltimore, causing the majority of the structure to plunge into the Patapsco River.
In a Monday press release, the Unified Command explained that the body was found located in “what [salvage teams] believed to be one of the missing construction vehicles.”
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Crane barges surround the container ship Dali and the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on April 15, 2024. (Jerry Jackson/The Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“The Maryland State Police, the FBI, and the Maryland Transportation Authority Police responded and located a deceased victim trapped inside the vehicle.”
The identity of the decedent will not be publicized at the request of the victim’s family, officials said. State officials met with the grieving relatives on Monday. The discovery marks the fourth body found at the scene, with two other victims are still missing and presumed dead.
“As we mourn the lives lost and continue the recovery operation, we recognize each missing individual is someone’s beloved friend or family member,” Superintendent of the Maryland Department of State Police Col. Roland L. Butler, Jr., said in a statement.
“Along with all of our allied law enforcement partners, we pledge to exhaust the physical and technical aspects of their training while deploying every available resource possible.”
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Part of a span of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge is suspended on the container ship Dali in Baltimore, Maryland, March 26, 2024. (Army Corps of Engineers/Handout via REUTERS)
The announcement came the same day that Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott announced plans for the city to take legal action against the parties involved in the bridge collapse.
“The City of Baltimore will take decisive action to hold responsible all entities accountable for the Key Bridge tragedy, including the owner, charterer, manager/operator, and the manufacturer of the M/V Dali, as well as any other potentially liable third parties,” officials said in a statement.
Chesapeake 1000 crane shown on March 29, 2024 being used in Maryland to assist in efforts to remove wreckage after the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse. (AP Photo/Brian Witte, File)
During the announcement, Scott acknowledged the impact that the disaster has had on the city and called it an “unthinkable tragedy.”
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“We are continuing to do everything in our power to support everyone impacted here and will continue to recognize the human impact this event has had,” the mayor said in a statement.
“Part of that work needs to be seeking recourse from those who may potentially be responsible, and with the ship’s owner filing a petition to limit its liability mere days after the incident, we need to act equally as quickly to protect the City’s interests.”
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