Crew members were hanging onto the rigging of the Mexican Navy tall ship that crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge Saturday night, video footage shows.
Two sailors were killed and nearly 20 others were injured when the Cuauhtémoc ship struck the bridge at around 8:30 p.m. Saturday night. Everyone who was injured was on the boat and none of the 277 people onboard fell into the water.
“No one fell into the water, they were all hurt inside the ship,” an NYPD official said, according to WCBS. “The ship, from what I was informed by the supervisors of the ship, it was disembarking and going to Iceland.”
Video of the crash from the Brooklyn side of the East River shows the 150-foot-tall Mexican Navy training ship’s three masts snapping after hitting the bridge. Officials said early indications suggest a mechanical issue may have caused the ship to veer off course and collide with the bridge, but the incident remains under investigation.
Footage also shows sailors hanging from the rigging ropes on the damaged masts, but none of them fell into the water.
“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 at least 15 minutes before they were able to rescue them,” eyewitness Lily Katz told The Associated Press.
Another witness, Nick Corso, had his phone out to capture the backdrop of the ship and the bridge against a sunset when he heard what sounded like the loud snapping of a “big twig.”
People around Corso began running and “pandemonium” ensued aboard the ship, he said. He later noticed a handful of people dangling from a mast.
“I didn’t know what to think, I was like, is this a movie?” he said.
The bridge did not sustain any damage from the collision.
“We are praying for everyone on board and their families and are grateful to our first responders who quickly jumped into action, ensuring this accident wasn’t much worse,” Adams said at a news conference on Saturday night.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum offered “solidarity and support” to the families of the deceased crew members after the crash.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of two crew members of the Cuauhtémoc Training Ship, who lost their lives in the unfortunate accident in New York Harbor. Our sympathy and support go out to their families,” she wrote Saturday night on on X.
The Cuauhtémoc was built in Bilbao, Spain, in 1981 and has won the Tall Ships’ Races twice, according to Sail Training International. The ship was in New York City as part of a promotion for an event next year that celebrates America’s 250th birthday.
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