Federal officials investigating Mexican tall ship’s crash into Brooklyn Bridge
May 19, 2025, 8:04 AM | Updated: 4:28 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal officials are investigating a Mexican Navy vessel that crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge, killing two sailors and injuring 19 others.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the investigative team arrived late Sunday and includes experts in nautical operations, marine and bridge engineering and survival factors.
The agency said in a likely to take months.
On Sunday, the damaged ship, named the Cuauhtemoc, was moored at Pier 35 in lower Manhattan as the investigation by both the U.S. and Mexican governments got underway.
Most of the crew from the training vessel, meanwhile, have since returned to Mexico, according to the country’s Navy.
On a post on X, Mexico’s Navy said that 172 cadets along seven officers arrived early Monday at the port of Veracruz, which is on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and home to Mexico’s naval school.
It added that said that two cadets remain in New York, getting medical attention and it said that their condition is stable.
The 300-foot (90-meter) vessel struck the Brooklyn Bridge as it attempted to leave its dock on the East River.
Footage of the collision shot by horrified onlookers show the ship moving swiftly backwards and then striking the 142-year-old bridge at around 8:20 p.m. Saturday.
As it struck the underside of the bridge, the vessel’s three masts broke with sailors seen on widely shared videos dangling on harnesses high up on the poles. The ship then drifted listlessly toward a crowded pier.
The bridge escaped major damage but at least 19 of the ship’s 277 sailors needed medical treatment, according to officials. Two of the four people who suffered serious injuries later died.
Among those killed was América Yamilet Sánchez, a 20-year-old sailor who had been studying engineering at the Mexican naval academy. Her family has said she died after falling from one of the Cuauhtemoc’s masts.
The Cuauhtemoc arrived in New York on May 13 as part of a 15-nation global goodwill tour.
The vessel, which sailed for the first time in 1982, had been docked and welcoming visitors in recent days at the tourist-heavy South Street Seaport. It was next bound for Iceland.
The ship’s main mast has a height of 160 feet (50 meters), about 30 feet (9 meters) higher than the span of the Brooklyn Bridge.
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Associated Press reporter Fabiola Sánchez in Mexico City contributed to this story.
