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The Francis Key Scott Bridge in Baltimore collapsed Tuesday after a container
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ship hit a support column causing vehicles and people to fall into
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the Patapsco River. The ship lost power and then literally ran
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into the bridge because it lost power.
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And thank God the captain was able to send a a distress
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call out to emergency services and they were able to close the
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bridge down in four minutes and not let anybody else get hurt
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And this all happened at one in the morning guys,
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six construction workers who were on the bridge are currently missing while
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two others have been rescued.
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A fellow worker said the missing men are immigrants from El Salvador
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Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico and are in their thirties and
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forties and have families.
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Authorities say one rescued worker refused treatment.
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You know what that means while the other was in very serious
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condition and hospitalized search and rescue operations are ongoing with assistance of
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the Coast Guard here to talk to us about what happened is
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journalist Clara Longo de Freitas from the Baltimore banner.
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Thank you for having me.
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Thank you for coming on and clarifying what's going on right now
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Over there in Baltimore.
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So what happens now since the bridge has collapsed?
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the state has started recovery efforts.
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They just don't think that any of the people who are
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at the bridge survived.
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They're in the process of looking for bodies and they reached
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out to families yesterday.
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I know that some community organizers and some people in the
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city are trying to find out,
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you know, what are the family needs and just do everything
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that they can to provide resources and help them out at this
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time. So reports show that the missing men are Latino construction
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workers. Do you have any updates?
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And do you have any information on the two workers that were
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rescued? We don't right now.
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We know a little bit about,
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you know, the fact that they all seem to have spouses
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and Children. They're in their late thirties or some of them
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are in their forties.
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They live in D Dock and Hyman Town,
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which are neighborhoods in Baltimore that are predominantly Latino.
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But we don't know much else other than that,
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we know that the families have been contacted,
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they know what's been going on,
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but they're just not at a place right now that they
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can talk about the workers and their family members.
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There was a worker that was rescued and didn't want medical
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attention. Is there any information on him.
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I think we're all kind of trying to figure out the reason
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he didn't want medical attention.
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I think the first thought that we have is,
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you know, whether he might have been undocumented and might be
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scared of looking for all.
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But we don't have a lot of information right now.
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I think this is a community that is very vulnerable in the
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city and they do have the support of community organizers.
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But I think that because of a lot of misinformation,
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they, they don't feel like they can actually reach out and
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and how many jobs will be affected now that the port is
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closed? That's a good question.
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I'm not sure right now.
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I think there's a lot of stuff that that's still up in
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the port is closed indefinitely but shipping will probably still happen.
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I think a lot of us are still trying to figure out
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what routes boats are gonna take now.
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I know that for example,
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if like truck drivers and shuttle drivers,
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they will probably just have to take a longer route.
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So operations are gonna be slowed down.
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So it's not gonna completely shut down altogether,
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but it will impact the economy in some way.
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And we're still purporting and trying to find out the exact information
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in terms of numbers and how many jobs we're actually gonna lose
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Is there any way we can support the victims and their families
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there are a couple of community organizations in Baltimore that are raising
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funds. One of them is,
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is Latino racial justice.
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They have a gofundme.
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I know that some other organizations like CASA are figuring out
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housing and any other assistance ma which is the Mayor's Office of
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Immigrant Affairs are in context as well trying to figure out what
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the family needs. And Clara,
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where can people find you and stay updated?
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Well, we are covering this right now.
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The Baltimore manner is doing great about trying to cover as many
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angles as possible. But I just,
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you know, encourage everyone to check out other local media.
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The Baltimore son is doing a great job.
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I'm sure the Baltimore beat is covering next week as well.
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Once they have an issue of local TV stations just,
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you know, definitely support local news right now because we know
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the community and we're always investing in the community.
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So make sure to just bring the news.
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Well, thank you so much Clara.
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We really appreciate you coming on and taking the time to speak
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with us on what's going on and giving us all those resources
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on how to help the victims.
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And yeah, thank you.
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Thank you so much guys.
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I really appreciate you guys for reaching out.
Series