Two people are dead and 17 others are injured after a Mexican Navy training ship struck the Brooklyn Bridge, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said. “Tonight, the Mexican Navy sailing ship Cuauhtemoc lost power and struck the Brooklyn Bridge,” Adams wrote on X. “At this time, of the 277 people on board, 19 have sustained injuries, 2 of whom are in critical condition, and 2 others have sadly passed away from their injuries.”
Images shared online showed the Cuauhtemoc, its sails furled and Christmas lights draped over its rigging, as its three masts snapped — one after another — as it passed under the bridge, crashing into the East River. Immediately after the incident, the Mexican Navy said in a statement that 22 people on board had been injured, three of them seriously.
The ship lost power while the captain was steering and headed toward the abutment of the bridge on the Brooklyn side, New York Police Special Operations Chief Wilson Aramboles said at a news conference. There was “panic on the ship,” Brooklyn resident Nick Corso, 23, who was near the bridge, told AFP. “A lot of screaming, some sailors hanging from the masts, it looked like there was panic on the ship,” he said. “I didn’t see anyone fall into the water… The thing that struck me the most was the panic on the ship, and there was a guy on the back waving people away from where we were,” he added.
The ship was sailing from New York at the time of the incident. The New York Department of Transportation reported on X that "there are no signs of structural damage to the Brooklyn Bridge, although inspections are ongoing." The bridge, which connects Brooklyn to Manhattan, was closed for about 40 minutes.
(Online Union)
