Two crew members lost their lives when a tall Mexican naval sailboat collided with the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City on Saturday.
As the vessel sailed through the East River, the tip of its mast grazed the underside of the bridge.
The Mexican Navy reported via social media on Saturday that 17 individuals had been wounded and were being treated at nearby hospitals.
Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, verified the fatalities and mentioned that two additional individuals are in critical condition.
He mentioned that the vessel had 277 individuals onboard when the incident occurred, and noted that the bridge sustained only minor damage.
Multiple witness recordings depicted several masts breaking off and partly falling onto the bridge’s deck when the incident occurred. The footage also revealed dense vehicular traffic across the span during the crash.
The vessel, which was flying a giant green, white and red Mexican flag, then drifted toward the edge of the river as onlookers scrambled away from shore.
A spokesperson informed Reuters that mechanical problems were probably responsible for the incident, but did not provide further details.
It is thought that the vessel was getting ready to depart from New York City with plans for an around-the-world goodwill journey encompassing 15 nations, one of which was Scotland.
Witnesses Sydney Neidell and Lily Katz mentioned that they were seated outdoors enjoying the sunset when they witnessed the boat collide with the bridge and one of its masts break off. Upon looking more closely, they noticed somebody hanging precariously from the upper part of the ship.
“We spotted somebody hanging, and I wasn’t sure if it appeared that way due to blurriness or because of my vision. We used our phone’s zoom feature and could see someone suspended from a harness from above for about 15 minutes until help arrived,” Katz stated.
They mentioned witnessing two individuals being carried off the vessel on stretchers and transferred to smaller boats.
The Mexican Navy stated in a posting on the social media platform X that the Cuauhtemoc, which is a ship used for naval cadet training, sustained damage due to an incident and would not continue with its journey.
Opened in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge features a main span of almost 1,600 feet, held up by two stone towers. It sees approximately 100,000 cars and around 32,000 walkers crossing daily.
The Cuauhtemoc, measuring approximately 297 feet in length and 40 feet in width as per the Mexican Navy, departed from the Mexican port of Acapulco on April 6.
With AP
