Describing them as hard-working family men who came to America for better lives, lawsuits filed on behalf of the six people who died in the Key Bridge collapse — and one who survived — claimed the disaster was preventable, but for the greed of the companies behind the cargo ship that brought down the span.

The civil claims, filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for Baltimore, target Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and Synergy Marine Pte. Ltd, the owner and manager, respectively, of the 984-foot, 100,000-ton Dali container ship. Those companies, both based in Singapore, moved under a 19th-century federal law to limit their liability in the maritime catastrophe.

“Petitioners killed six people and severely injured two others when they recklessly crashed an unseaworthy cargo vessel into the Francis Scott Key Bridge,” the lawsuits said. “Six days after the disaster that they caused, before all of the bodies of those who were lost were even recovered, Petitioners invoked the jurisdiction of this Court, asserting that they owe nothing for the lives they destroyed.”

All of the men killed in the collapse were part of a crew for Brawner Builders Inc., of Hunt Valley, working a night shift fixing potholes on the bridge when the wayward ship struck. Julio Cervantes Suarez, who also worked for Brawner, survived the collapse by escaping from a sinking truck and clinging to a piece of concrete until he could be rescued.

“Cervantes suffered severe personal injuries, including but not limited to blunt impact injuries, head injuries, back injuries, leg injuries, arm injuries, hypothermia, ingestion of water, emotional distress, fear of impending death, and fear of drowning,” his lawsuit says.

Judson H. Lipowitz, an attorney for the mother of bridge victim Maynor Yasir Suazo Sandoval, said in a statement to The Baltimore Sun that the victims’ families filed the claims simultaneously to show “solidarity” in their grief.

“Ms. Sandoval Paz is incensed by the outrageous attempt of the Dali’s owner and manager to limit their liability for their heinous and wrongful acts that killed her son, Maynor,” Lipowitz said. “This tragedy was totally preventable. It should have never happened.”

Darrell Wilson, a spokesman for Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine, said in a statement the companies anticipated victims’ claims ahead of Tuesday’s deadline for filing suit.

“The owner and manager will have no further comment on the merits of any claim at this time, but we do look forward to our day in court to set the record straight,” Wilson said.

Calling the Singaporean companies’ legal actions “outrageous” and “heartless,” the attorneys separately representing the families offered an overview of their claims in a news release.

“We intend to document how each and every egregious issue that affected the Dali’s performance that night, which ultimately cost six hard-working individuals their lives and devastated the lives of their families and the two men who survived, were all well-known to the vessel’s owners, yet were never addressed,” the attorneys’ statement said.

The lawsuits are the latest in a string of them. The city of Baltimore, the U.S. Department of Justice, small businesses and others have filed claims against the ship’s Singaporean owner and manager.

Earlier this week, the Justice Department alleged in a lawsuit of its own that a series of irresponsible, makeshift fixes to the ship’s transformer — integral to the electrical system — had played a role in the ship’s power outage and, ultimately, the disaster.

The victims’ lawsuits reflected those accusations, which were based upon an investigation by the Justice Department. The Dali had a “well-recorded history of severe and dangerous vessel vibration issues, which directly affected its electrical system and rendered the vessel entirely unseaworthy,” attorneys for the victims wrote.

Workers used “haphazard methods” to limit vibrations to transformers, which were “crudely secured using steel braces, which themselves were damaged by vibration.” The lawsuits go on to reference the Justice Department’s complaint, calling an “ad-hoc” cargo chain “contraption” the “most glaringly” obvious dangerous condition.

“These defects were known to Petitioners before departure for Sri Lanka, but they departed anyway. Petitioners’ reckless decision to leave berth in the face of these dangerous deficiencies was motivated by profit,” the lawsuits stated.

The claims also say that the ship’s master “knowingly and falsely assured” the Maryland-licensed pilots that the ship was in good condition and should have requested the two tugboats, which assisted the vessel out of the harbor, to continue to assist the vessel “through the bridge’s main span.”

Friday’s claims also emphasized the human toll of the disaster, which also disrupted operations at the bustling Port of Baltimore, by providing personal details of each of the men lost.

Miguel Angel Luna and his wife, Maria del Carmen Castellon Quintana, had been together for 14 years and married for nearly seven. Luna, 49, left behind five children and several grandchildren.

The claim filed on behalf of Jose Mynor Lopez’s family described him as a doting son who sent money to his parents in his native Guatemala every two weeks over the 17 years he lived in America. When he wasn’t working, he liked to play cards and garden with his younger brother, who also lived in Baltimore and worked at Brawner Builders. Lopez was 37.

Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, also regularly sent money to his parents in Guatemala to support his mother’s medical care and so that the family could have a refrigerator and nice foods.

“At the age of 20, he came to the United States to work and earn money for his family,” the lawsuit said. “Dorlian was a happy person who enjoyed spending time with his friends and listening to Mexican music, but his life revolved around working hard and being there for his parents and family.”

Alejandro “Alex” Hernandez Fuentes, 35, and his wife, Mariela, dreamed of giving their children something they didn’t have growing up: “a bright future, a father and mother, and a stable household,” the family’s attorneys wrote. “Mariela and Alejandro had achieved this dream for their family before it was destroyed.”

Attorneys for Sandoval’s family described him in their lawsuit as a loving husband, father and son. They said he achieved “the American Dream for him and his family, but never forgot where he came from,” regularly sending money to pay for doctor’s appointments, medicine and youth soccer leagues in his hometown in Honduras. He was 38.

“Maynor lived a life deeply rooted in faith, love, and service to others,” his family’s attorneys wrote.

Carlos Daniel Hernandez Estrella was a “very hard-working and above all very responsible, noble, and respectful man” and was “always attentive and respectful but also funny,” attorneys for his father and mother wrote.

“Now that her son is gone, there is a great wound in Lucia’s heart,” attorneys wrote on behalf of his mother, Lucia Estrella Zambrano.