Their relatives died after a Baltimore bridge collapsed. Here's who they blame

BALTIMORE − Nearly six months after a container ship plowed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, grieving relatives of workers who died in the bridge collapse say they're taking action against the owner of the ship that caused the 1.6-mile expanse to buckle and tumble into the Patapsco River.

The cargo ship Dali lost power and rammed into one of the support columns on the nearly 50-year-old bridge on March 26, sending eight workers, who'd been fixing potholes on the bridge, into the frigid water. Two were rescued and six others were found dead. All of the victims were immigrants from Latin America.

Singapore-based Grace Ocean Private Limited, the ship's owner, and its manager Synergy Marine Group filed a petition in federal court in April to limit their liability from the crash to the present value of the ship, which they estimated to be $42.5 million, according to court documents. Experts previously told Reuters if evidence shows the shipowners were at fault for the crash, they could lose the ability to limit their liability.

The family members have indicated they don't think a federal judge should limit the company's liability.

Relatives of three men killed in the bridge collapse spoke Tuesday alongside their attorney, Matthew Wessler, and members of the advocacy group CASA. 

Maria del Carmen Castellón, who lost her husband, 49-year-old Miguel Angel Luna Gonzalez, in the predawn disaster, was present alongside family members of two other men killed in the crash, Dorlian Castillo Cabrera, 26, and Maynor Yasir Suazo-Sandoval, 38. The families plan to file a claim in federal court in Maryland before the Sept. 24 deadline set by the court and before the upcoming six-month anniversary of the tragedy, their attorney Matthew Wessler told USA TODAY.

Castellón said through an interpreter that her husband was a father of five, a grandfather and a son. They had been together for more than 14 years and married for six. Castellón spoke of their dreams and aspirations. The couple wanted to rent a brick-and-mortar location for her food truck business and had visited a potential spot days before the tragedy.

She recalled the day she learned her husband was among the people missing after the collapse.

“That day a wound was opened in my heart that will never heal – something I do not wish (on) anyone,” she said.

Castellón pledged to fight for justice not only for her family, but for all immigrant families asking for work permits and the ability to work in less dangerous jobs.

“We hope that no one else has to suffer in this tragedy as we have," she said. "Justice means preventing future tragedies.”

Gustavo Torres, CASA’s executive director, criticized the company's owners at Grace Ocean Private Limited for efforts to “wash their hands of responsibility” for the lives lost in the bridge collapse by seeking to limit their liability in court, and also for hiring a lobbying firm to change laws designed to “protect the vulnerable.”

He described the men killed in the collapse as essential workers who came to the United States for a better life and left behind grieving families, calling for increased protections for migrant workers and immigration reform.

“The loss of these six lives have destroyed their world, leaving their loved ones in pain and anguish, forever changed,” Torres said.

The ship lost power twice in the hours before it left the Port of Baltimore, according to a preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board, which "should have put everybody on notice that something was wrong," Wessler said.

"And that series of events makes it pretty clear that there was, at a minimum, some negligence that occurred on behalf of the ship, and as a result, that the ship should not be allowed to limit the amount of liability it would have to pay to anybody who was injured," he said.

A federal judge will ultimately decide whether or not the ship's owner and manager can limit their liability, Wessler said.

"The hope is that this will go to trial so that a jury can decide specifically what monetary compensation looks like for the loss of six lives," Jossie Flor Sapunar, a spokesperson for CASA, said.

Synergy Marine Group, which manages the ship, did not respond to a request for comment before the families' claim was filed.

The bridge collapse prompted an outpouring of grief in the city’s growing Latino community along with calls for increased protections for millions of undocumented migrant workers across the country. In addition to announcing the lawsuit, family members will renew those calls "for essential policy changes to protect construction workers, who are too often immigrants," a press release from CASA said.

Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy filed a limited liability claim in Maryland federal court in April, trying to stave off future demands from people and entities harmed by the bridge collapse. Baltimore's mayor and city council responded in court, noting that there was no high wind and no obstruction and no reason to believe the bridge would collapse that day. It accused the companies of criminal negligence for allowing the ship to leave port with an inconsistent power supply. The city officials noted in court documents that the crash caused the city’s economic engine to "grind to a halt.”

The mayor and city officials oppose limiting the ship owners' liability.

Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board has been investigating the collision. The FBI has also opened a federal criminal investigation into the collapse.

Contributing: Reuters