Mexican tall ship strikes Brooklyn Bridge, snapping masts and injuring sailors

https://www.wavy.com/news/world/ap-mexican-navy-training-vessel-hits-new-
yorks-brooklyn-bridge/

NEW YORK (AP) — A Mexican navy sailing ship about to leave New York for a 
goodwill tour to Iceland struck the Brooklyn Bridge Saturday night, 
snapping its three masts, injuring crew members and leaving some dangling 
from harnesses high in the air waiting for help.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said at least 19 people needed medical 
treatment after the crash, including four with serious injuries, but the 
142-year-old bridge was spared major damage. The cause of the collision 
was under investigation.

In a scene captured in multiple eyewitness videos, the ship, called the 
Cuauhtemoc, could be seen traveling swiftly toward the bridge near the 
Brooklyn side of the East River. Then, its three masts struck the bridge’s 
main span and snapped, one by one, as the ship kept moving.

Videos showed heavy traffic on the span at the time of the collision.

The vessel, which was flying a giant green, white and red Mexican flag and 
had 277 people aboard, then drifted toward the piers lining the riverbank 
as onlookers scrambled away.

Sailors could be seen aloft in the rigging on the damaged masts but, 
remarkably, no one fell into the water, officials said.

Sydney Neidell and Lily Katz told The Associated Press they were sitting 
outside to watch the sunset when they saw the vessel strike the bridge. 
Looking closer, they saw someone dangling from high on the ship.

“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 said.

Just before the collision, Nick Corso, 23, took his phone out to capture 
the backdrop of the ship and the bridge against a sunset, Instead, he 
heard what sounded like the loud snapping of a “big twig.” Several more 
snaps followed.

People in his vicinity began running back and “pandemonium” on the boat 
erupted, he said. He later saw a handful of people dangling from the mast.

“I didn’t know what to think, I was like, is this a movie?” he said.

The Mexican navy said in a post on the social platform X that the 
Cuauhtemoc was an academy training vessel. It said a total of 22 people 
were injured, 19 of whom needed medical treatment.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry said on X that its ambassador to the U.S. and 
officials from the Mexican consulate in New York were in contact with 
local authorities to provide assistance.

The Brooklyn Bridge, which opened in 1883, has a nearly 1,600-foot (490-
meter) main span 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.

Traffic was halted after the collision but was allowed to resume after the 
span underwent an initial inspection, city officials said.

The Cuauhtemoc — about 297 feet long and 40 feet wide (90.5 meters long 
and 12 meters wide), according to the Mexican navy — sailed for the first 
time in 1982.

The vessel’s main mast has a height of 160 feet (48.9 meters), according 
to the Mexican government.

After the collision, a tugboat held it in place in the East River between 
the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges.

Each year the ship sets out at the end of classes at the naval military 
school to finish cadets’ training. This year it left the Mexican port of 
Acapulco, on the Pacific coast, on April 6, the navy said.

The Mexican consulate said May 13 on X that the Cuauhtemoc, also called 
the “Ambassador and Knight of the Seas,” arrived that day and docked at 
Pier 17. It invited people to visit through May 17.

The ship was scheduled to visit 22 ports in 15 nations, including 
Kingston, Jamaica; Havana, Cuba; Cozumel, Mexico; and New York.

It also had planned to go to Reykjavik, Iceland; Bordeaux, Saint Malo and 
Dunkirk, France; and Aberdeen, Scotland, among others, for a total of 254 
days, 170 of them at sea.


-- 
November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump.  We look 
forward to America being great again.

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Every day is an IQ test. Some pass, some, not so much.

Thank you for cleaning up the disasters of the 2008-2017, 2020-2024 Obama 
/ Biden / Harris fiascos, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the 
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