The ship snapped all three of its masts as it collided with the New York City landmark.
MEXICAN Navy training ship is seen near the Manhattan Bridge after it slammed into the nearby Brooklyn Bridge in New York on 17 May 2025.
Photo courtesy of ANGELA WEISS/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Two people died and 19 others were injured after a Mexican Navy training ship hit the Brooklyn Bridge, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Sunday.
The ship snapped all three of its masts as it collided with the New York City landmark late Saturday, while onlookers enjoying the balmy spring evening watched in horror.
“At this time, of the 277 on board, 19 sustained injuries, 2 of which remain in critical condition, and 2 more have sadly passed away from their injuries,” Adams posted on X.
Footage shared online showed the Mexican Navy ship Cuauhtemoc, its sails furled and festive lights draped in its rigging, as it tried to pass beneath the bridge, which sheared off the masts and sent them crashing into the East River.
Hundreds of cheering spectators had gathered minutes earlier to bid farewell to the ship, which had been docked at a pier in southern Manhattan since Tuesday.
The Mexican Navy said in a statement that two crew members died in the crash, with a further 22 injured — half of them critically.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote on X that she was “deeply saddened” by the two crew members’ deaths.
The ship lost power at around 8:20 p.m. while the captain was maneuvering the vessel, forcing it to head for the bridge abutment on the Brooklyn side, New York police chief of special operations Wilson Aramboles told a press conference.
Several sailors at the top of the ship were injured when it crashed into the bridge, Aramboles said.
It is not clear if these sailors are among the dead.
The Mexican Navy said in its statement that no one had fallen into the water, and that no rescue operation had been launched.
The ship had been departing New York at the time and flags also fluttered in the rigging, while an enormous Mexican flag waved off its stern.
Seconds after the ship left the dock, “suddenly we saw all the lights, how they collided, hit the bridge, and they (the sailors) all fell down,” Arturo Acatitla, a 37-year-old New York resident, told Agence France-Presse.
“While inspections will remain ongoing, there are no signs of structural damage to the Brooklyn Bridge,” the New York transport department posted on X.
The bridge which leads from Brooklyn into Manhattan was closed for some 40 minutes before reopening.
Victims were taken to hospital, Mexican ambassador Esteban Moctezuma Barragan told a news conference, and sirens could be heard near the scene.
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