Mexican Sailboat Crashes Into Brooklyn Bridge

[DaisyDay]

Mexican navy tall ship smashes into Brooklyn Bridge, shears off masts after losing power, 2 dead, 17 hurt

A massive Mexican navy tall ship making a festive visit to New York slammed into the Brooklyn Bridge late Saturday — toppling its huge masts into the deck in a horrifying scene that left at least 2…

nypost.com

A massive Mexican navy tall ship making a festive visit to New York slammed into the Brooklyn Bridge late Saturday — toppling its huge masts into the deck in a horrifying scene that left multiple crew members seriously injured, according to fire officials and sources.

A search and rescue operation was underway to pull people out of the water after one of the towering 147-foot masts on the Cuauhtémoc — which has a crew of 277 — collided with the bridge’s road deck just before 9 p.m., sources told The Post.​

 

[Oompa Loompa]

That's a lot of damage.

 

[Pommer]

Mexican navy tall ship smashes into Brooklyn Bridge, shears off masts after losing power, 2 dead, 17 hurt

A massive Mexican navy tall ship making a festive visit to New York slammed into the Brooklyn Bridge late Saturday — toppling its huge masts into the deck in a horrifying scene that left at least 2…

nypost.com

​

A massive Mexican navy tall ship making a festive visit to New York slammed into the Brooklyn Bridge late Saturday — toppling its huge masts into the deck in a horrifying scene that left multiple crew members seriously injured, according to fire officials and sources.​

​

A search and rescue operation was underway to pull people out of the water after one of the towering 147-foot masts on the Cuauhtémoc — which has a crew of 277 — collided with the bridge’s road deck just before 9 p.m., sources told The Post.​

The videos I saw on the YouTube machine, the very thin masts were driven into a nearly immovable bridge, (which will have to be inspected, in any event), and most of the injuries were from aboard the tall ship, the docks had been threatened by this runaway but a tugboat sped in and may have averted a larger disaster?

Thank goodness that our President won’t take this as a “slight” from Mexico for his renaming the Gulf of Mexico, to the “Gulf of America“.
Yup, that sure is a good thing.

 

[That Guy 11200]

It was going backwards. I'd guess it broke free from its moorings.

 

[DaisyDay]

Mexican navy ship crashes into Brooklyn Bridge, killing two sailors

Twenty-two crew members injured, 11 of them critically, with nine in a stable condition, Mexican government says

www.theguardian.com

Two sailors from the Mexican navy were killed and another 11 critically hurt when a sailing ship taking part in a promotional tour in New York City collided with the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum said.

The crash happened on Saturday night when the Cuauhtémoc – an academy training vessel with 277 people on board who shares a name with the last Aztec ruler – lost power and struck the bridge. Eyewitness videos showed dozens of sailors in ceremonial uniforms spread across yardarms shortly before the collision, which snapped the Cuauhtémoc’s three masts.
​

 

[The_Mantis]

What?? What a weird thing to happen

 

[wing2000]

It was going backwards. I'd guess it broke free from its moorings.

There were early reports of "mechanical issues".
Two of the ship's crew members have died (guessing, the two unfortunate souls perched on the top rung).

On Saturday night, it was supposed to head south and sail out of New York Harbor, with a stop on the Brooklyn waterfront to refuel before heading onward to Iceland.

Instead, at about 8:30 p.m., the Cuauhtémoc was apparently headed in the wrong direction, never intending to sail under the Brooklyn Bridge, said a spokesman for the city’s Office of Emergency Management.

At the moment of collision, according to videos verified by Reuters, two people who appeared to have been on the topmost rung of the mast can be seen swinging forward violently. In the immediate aftermath, the videos showed, some people were hanging from the wreckage by ropes, and others inched along on their bellies toward the center.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/17/nyregion/brooklyn-bridge-ship-crash-nyc.html

 

[DaisyDay]

I had seen some twitter videos but I didn't realize that there were so many sailors standing on the masts. They all had to have seen the crash coming.

 

[RocksInMyHead]

They all had to have seen the crash coming.

Not necessarily - the ship suffered an engine failure, and the current was carrying it in reverse. Without a good point of reference (or good situational awareness), it can be difficult to tell what direction you're moving on a ship/boat, so if none of them were looking to the side or behind them, they may not have noticed.

 

[RileyG]

Mexican navy tall ship smashes into Brooklyn Bridge, shears off masts after losing power, 2 dead, 17 hurt

A massive Mexican navy tall ship making a festive visit to New York slammed into the Brooklyn Bridge late Saturday — toppling its huge masts into the deck in a horrifying scene that left at least 2…

nypost.com

​

A massive Mexican navy tall ship making a festive visit to New York slammed into the Brooklyn Bridge late Saturday — toppling its huge masts into the deck in a horrifying scene that left multiple crew members seriously injured, according to fire officials and sources.​

​

A search and rescue operation was underway to pull people out of the water after one of the towering 147-foot masts on the Cuauhtémoc — which has a crew of 277 — collided with the bridge’s road deck just before 9 p.m., sources told The Post.​

How tragic!

 

[DaisyDay]

Not necessarily - the ship suffered an engine failure, and the current was carrying it in reverse. Without a good point of reference (or good situational awareness), it can be difficult to tell what direction you're moving on a ship/boat, so if none of them were looking to the side or behind them, they may not have noticed.

I'm talking about those guys standing on the masts:

 

[BCP1928]

I'm talking about those guys standing on the masts:

View attachment 365250

A ceremonial display called "manning the yards." They were all looking forward and might not have been aware that the ship was backing into the bridge.

 

[iluvatar5150]

A ceremonial display called "manning the yards." They were all looking forward and might not have been aware that the ship was backing into the bridge.

I doubt they didn't know. It was moving fast for an unpowered sailboat, but it wasn't moving so fast they couldn't have noticed something was amiss, or turned around and seen what was coming. People on the shore were yelling. From the video I saw, they all appeared to be wearing fall protection, which is normally a good thing. I wonder if it's going to turn out that, in this case, it ironically increased the danger by preventing the sailors from jumping to safety, attaching them to falling debris, swinging them into other equipment, and (since I don't know how long it took to get them down) exposing them to suspension trauma.