A Mexican Navy coaching ship is seen in entrance of the Manhattan Bridge, after it was broken working into the Brooklyn Bridge in New York Metropolis, U.S., on Might 17, 2025.
Santiago Lyon | Reuters
Two folks died and greater than a dozen others had been injured when a historic Mexican naval coaching ship struck the Brooklyn Bridge in New York Metropolis on Saturday night time, Mayor Eric Adams mentioned.
Twenty-one folks had been injured, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson mentioned early Sunday, and had been taken to shore through small boat earlier than being transferred to a hospital. Adams had beforehand said on X that 19 had been damage, two had been in vital situation “and a couple of extra have sadly handed away from their accidents.”
Others had been checked out, and divers had been probing waters on the scene as a precaution, three police sources with data of the incident mentioned earlier.
Adams mentioned at a information convention Saturday night time that the tall ship with 277 folks on board suffered a mechanical mishap that induced it to veer into the bridge because it had set sail from Pier 17 en path to sea.
“The pilot misplaced energy of the ship,” he mentioned, including that two crew members had been on a mast and had been injured within the collision.
Chief Wilson Aramboles of the New York Police Division’s Particular Operations Division mentioned the collision occurred about 8:20 p.m.
Inspectors had been instantly dispatched to evaluate the situation of the bridge, the police sources mentioned. New York Metropolis Division of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez mentioned the top of bridge division was on the scene, with a preliminary evaluation concluding there have been no indicators of main injury.
Adams mentioned the bridge was open.
Business site visitors within the space was suspended, and the Coast Guard’s Sector New York established a “security zone” from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Manhattan Bridge, the Coast Guard spokesperson mentioned.
A Mexican Navy coaching ship is seen in entrance of the Manhattan Bridge, after it was broken having run into into the Brooklyn Bridge in New York Metropolis, U.S., Might 17, 2025. REUTERS/Santiago Lyon
Santiago Lyon | Reuters
Nobody fell into the water, officers mentioned on the information convention. The ship was in the end headed to Iceland, Aramboles mentioned.
Video from the scene confirmed two masts from the ship, lit up in incandescent colours as night time fell, hanging the bridge, with folks on the mast hanging on.
One other video earlier than the bridge strike confirmed round 80 folks standing throughout the ship’s masts, seemingly secured through harnesses. The Coast Guard spokesperson mentioned the boat misplaced all three masts through the crash.
Witnesses interviewed by NBC New York mentioned the boat, which at the least one mentioned was no stranger to the East River and native waters, appeared to have a party-like ambiance with music.
On shore after the collision, paramedics had been seen wheeling away among the injured on stretchers, some sporting neck braces. Onlookers could possibly be heard chanting, “Mexico! Mexico!”
Esteban Moctezuma Barragán, a Mexican ambassador to the U.S., on the information convention recognized the ship as ARM Cuauhtémoc, a historic Mexican Navy coaching vessel.
Although it is listed as a crusing ambassador for Mexico for subsequent 12 months’s Sail4th 250 celebrations, a spokesperson for the occasion mentioned in an announcement Saturday night time that the “Mexican Tall Ship Cuauhtémoc shouldn’t be one of many ships dedicated to date to take part in subsequent 12 months’s Sail4th 250 occasion.”
The spokesperson continued, “Chris O’Brien, President of Sail4th 250, is deeply saddened by what he is studying about this night’s collision and is following the information with the injured sailors in his prayers.”
Town’s Seaport Museum on Pier 17 hosted the ship via Saturday, with public viewing scheduled throughout its five-day keep.
The New York Metropolis-area Sail4th 250 occasions will rejoice America’s 250th anniversary on July 4, 2026, with what’s being billed because the largest-ever flotilla of tall ships from world wide.
The UK nonprofit Sail Training International describes the vessel a being in-built Bilbao, Spain, in 1981 and initially known as “Celaya.”
“She was later acquired by the Mexican Navy as a coaching vessel for officers, cadets, petty officers and sailors,” in response to the group. “Cuauhtemoc sailed the world for 13 years and in 1995 underwent a significant refit of the ship and rigging.”
The New York Police Division mentioned it was investigating the incident. Officers on the information convention mentioned the Nationwide Transportation Security Board would additionally probe the reason for the collision.
Police requested folks to steer clear of the realm of the bridge and close by streets.
