BALTIMORE — They were husbands and fathers who shared a love of soccer.
Gustavo Torres of CASA shares how construction workers Miguel Luna and Maynor Suazo Sandoval are being remembered and how their loss has impacted their families.
The men were working on the Key Bridge when a cargo barge crashed into the bridge early Tuesday, causing it to collapse. Their bodies were recovered on Wednesday.
Torres describes both men as “exceptional human beings.”
“Miguel Luna was a father, with three kids. Wonderful father,” Torres says. “He really wanted to be a small business owner, and part of his passion was to make a contribution to the community.”
The El Salvador native was married and had been in the U.S. for 19 years.
He described Maynor Sandoval as a “wonderful husband” who came from Honduras 17 years ago. Sandoval’s wife and two children were already planning his birthday, on April 27th, he says.
For the past 10 years, the men and their families have been in CASA, volunteering on committees and supporting the Latino community. Now that community is coming together to support their families, just as they did last year when road construction workers who were CASA members were killed on the Baltimore Beltway.
“They are going to have huge needs,” Torres says. “From everything related with school for the kids with food, everything related with [making] sure that they send the bodies to the country of origin. All of that kind of thing is what we are going to support in the near future.”
He wants to make sure that the families receive the emotional and financial support they need, and CASA has been working with Baltimore City and the state to stay informed about what’s available. The organization is also staying in touch with the FBI and other federal government agencies involved in the investigation into the tragedy.
CASA has a way you can help the Luna and Sandoval families through a fund set up by the City of Baltimore.
As their families mourn, both here and in their homelands, they are remembering the men who were lost.
“Something that we heard that they are going to miss,” Torres says, “is their joy and their humor. They were so passionate to work with the community, but at the same time, to enjoy life.”
