Final vigil held for Key Bridge collapse victims as Baltimore sees return of cruise ships

By Dennis Valera

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    BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Sunday will mark two months since the cargo ship Dali struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing its collapse.

Since then, there have been several milestones marking progress in the salvage efforts.

The memorial set up on Fort Armistead Road also hit a milestone on Saturday: a final vigil. The artist who helped start the memorial is now trying to find it a permanent home.

Saturday showed a huge sign of progress when Royal Carribbean’s Vision of the Seas became the first cruise ship to leave the Port of Baltimore since the collapse.

“It was really traumatic, we didn’t really think about our cruise right away [when the collapse happened],” said Betty Scott. “We were more concerned about what happened, but I had all the faith in the world that we’d go out of Baltimore.”

Meanwhile, Roberto Marquez hosted the final vigil at the memorial made for the six construction workers who died in the collapse.

Marquez said the victims’ families, and many in the community, have come to adore it. The mural there has become a host of people’s calls for unity in the tragedy.

“They felt that it was a place they could sit down, meditate, talk to each other. It’s been a community that is getting together,” he said.

Maintaining the memorial has become too difficult, according to Marquez, who drove to Baltimore from his home in Texas to start it. He’s been in talks with city leaders as well as a museum that’s interested in taking the mural.

Others have also been helping find a home.

“I’ve been talking to the Governor, see if there was a possibility of finding a location where this can be permanent and we can have a rememberance of what happened,” said Bishop Angel Nuñez, senior pastor at Bilingual Christian Church of Baltimore.

The victims’ families have been part of figuring out the next steps for the memorial.

Marquez is grateful for all the help he’s gotten, seeing the memorial grow from a few crosses and flags to what is it now.

“All of the brothers, all of the construction workers, all of the people who came around — they’ve done so much. Without them we couldn’t reach this point. I wish I had money to pay them, but I don’t have it,” he said.

The memorial has also grown to include a section that honors the six construction workers who died in a workzone crash on I-695 last year.

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