Two individuals have been killed and a minimum of 19 others injured after a tall Mexican Navy coaching crusing ship crashed into New York Metropolis’s Brooklyn Bridge, the town mayor has mentioned.
Eric Adams mentioned the Cuauhtémoc misplaced energy earlier than the collision on Saturday night. US officers mentioned 277 individuals have been on board the vessel, which was on a goodwill go to.
Footage reveals the Cuauhtémoc’s towering masts clipping the bridge because the ship was passing below the well-known construction on Saturday night.
Crew members have been standing on the masts on the time of collision, authorities mentioned, which all snapped and fell to the deck.
New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams mentioned on X that two individuals died and 19 have been injured, two of whom have been in vital situation. A complete of 277 individuals have been on board.
Brooklyn Bridge didn’t endure any main harm and was reopened after a preliminary inspection.
Police mentioned they believed “mechanical points” and an influence reduce had induced the ship to collide with one of many pillars of the bridge.
The New York Coast Guard mentioned the Cuauhtémoc misplaced all three masts and all personnel on the ship had been accounted for. Nobody had fallen within the water.
Crowds fled from the water’s edge because the masts collided with the bridge.
There was “panic on the ship”, mentioned Brooklyn resident Nick Corso, who was standing close by.
He instructed AFP there was “plenty of screaming, some sailors hanging from the masts”.
One other witness, Kelvin Flores, instructed the BBC he was at work when he noticed the crash.
He got here out into the road to seek out plenty of “commotion and plenty of chaos” with fireplace engines and police attempting to achieve the scene however the roads clogged with visitors.
“Simply seeing the precise harm was insane,” he mentioned. “Folks carrying stretchers… they have been attempting to get the injured out.”
New York police instructed residents to keep away from the realm of Brooklyn Bridge, South Avenue Seaport in Manhattan, and Dumbo in Brooklyn.
“Count on heavy visitors and a big presence of emergency autos within the surrounding space,” the town police division mentioned on X.
The Cuauhtémoc was later towed away.
The vessel, which measures 297 ft lengthy (91m) and 40 ft (12m) large, in accordance with the Mexican navy, sailed for the primary time in 1982.
Every year it units sail on the finish of courses on the naval army faculty to complete cadets’ coaching.
This 12 months it left the Mexican port of Acapulco on 6 April, the navy mentioned. Its last vacation spot was meant to be Iceland.
Reuters mentioned its 45m (147ft) masts have been too tall to clear the arched bridge, which is listed on the New York transport division’s web site as having a 135ft clearance at its centre.
