By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
MEXICO CITY/NEW YORK (Worthy News) – Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said Sunday that two crew members on the Mexican Navy sailing ship Cuauhtémoc were killed when the vessel drifted directly into the underside of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City.
A Mexican government bulletin also said 22 crew members were injured, 11 of them critically, with nine in a stable condition following the accident in the largest city in the United States.
The New York Fire Department said 277 people were on board the Cuauhtémoc, which shares its name with the last Aztec Empire ruler, but everyone is believed to be accounted for.
However, “We are deeply saddened by the loss of two crew members of the training ship Cuauhtémoc, who lost their lives in the unfortunate accident in New York,” Sheinbaum added.
“Our solidarity and support go out to their families. The ministry of the navy, with the support of local authorities, is currently attending to the wounded.”
New York Mayor Eric Adams explained in
After midnight, early Sunday, two people had died, before the Mexican president confirmed that those killed were crew members.
Footage showed the ship’s towering masts clip the bridge as it passed under the structure, apparently after a power failure.
PANIC ERUPTED
Authorities said crew members stood on the masts when they snapped and fell to the deck.
Brooklyn resident Nick Corso, who witnessed the accident, said the area erupted in panic. There was “lots of screaming, some sailors hanging from the masts,” he told reporters.
Following the crash, the Mexican navy said the Cuauhtémoc would be prevented from continuing its 254-day voyage.
It was participating in an ongoing celebration of Mexico’s 200th anniversary of independence from Spain in 1821.
The vessel was to have visited 22 ports in 15 countries to “carry the message of peace and goodwill of the Mexican people to the seas and ports of the world,” authorities stressed.
It sailed from Acapulco on Mexico’s Pacific coast on April 6 and was due to make stops in a succession of countries around the Caribbean before crossing the Atlantic to Europe, including stopovers in Aberdeen and London.
EXTENSIVE CREW
Its crew consisted of 64 women and 213 men, Worthy News learned.
Sydney Neidell and Lily Katz told the Associated Press news agency that they were sitting outside to watch the sunset when they saw the vessel strike the bridge and one of its masts snap.It
“We saw someone dangling, and I couldn’t tell if it was just blurry or my eyes, and we were able to zoom in on our phone, and there was someone dangling from the harness from the top for like at least like 15 minutes before they were able to rescue them,” Katz explained.
They said they saw two people removed from the ship on stretchers on to smaller boats.
The Cuauhtémoc – about 297 feet long and 40 feet wide (90.5 metres long and 12 metres wide), according to the Mexican navy – sailed for the first time in 1982. Each year it sets out at the end of classes at the naval military school to finish cadets’ training
The Brooklyn Bridge it hit opened in 1883. It has a nearly 1,600-foot (490 metres) main span that is supported by two masonry towers.
More than 100,000 vehicles and an estimated 32,000 pedestrians cross every day, according to the city’s transportation department, and its walkway is a major tourist attraction.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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