Man on Baltimore bridge minutes before collapse is thankful to be alive

A man who crossed Baltimore's Francis Key Bridge just before it collapsed last week is speaking out.

Larry DeSantis was on the bridge roughly 10 minutes before it collapsed.

"If I was one minute later I probably wouldn't be here now," he said.

DeSantis said he left from his job in Pasadena around 1:18 a.m. Tuesday to head to his second job at Herman's Bakery in Dundalk.

"When I was getting on [the bridge] there was a tractor trailer, but it only had a tractor, not the trailer part of it," DeSantis said. "I got in front of him and we both got on the bridge."

DeSantis said he was driving around 45 mph because of the bridge construction. He said he saw construction workers once he got over the top part of the bridge.

"There was a police car when I went by right before I went on the toll bridge, but what I understand they knew something was going to happen so he was waiting to get word to stop traffic so I guess I was the last one to get through," DeSantis said.

DeSantis didn't see or even hear the collapse. Once he got off the bridge, the only reason he knew is because one of his co-workers called him.

"While I'm sitting at the light, the woman here called me because she knew," DeSantis said. "She said, 'Did you go home?,' and I said no, I just went over the bridge, and she well, it just collapsed."

DeSantis said he's still in shock, especially knowing some of the construction crew he passed on the bridge died in the collapse.

"They still haven't found some of them ... it's sad," DeSantis said. "I mean, they're doing their job."

DeSantis is now counting his blessings, saying he's grateful to be alive.

"The guy I work with, we left at the same time," DeSantis said. "If we had stopped and talked for a minute, which we do a lot of times ... but we both had other jobs to go to, so we just left."

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said at a Monday afternoon news conference that his top priority is recovering the four remaining bodies, followed by reopening shipping channels to the port.