Radio calls asked tugs for help 45 seconds before Mexican ship hit Brooklyn Bridge, officials say
Two members of the Cuauhtemoc's crew suffered fatal injuries Saturday when the ship's tall masts struck the Brooklyn Bridge's main span.
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UPDATE 7:49 PM: The municipal government of San Mateo del Mar, Oaxaca identified the second victim in the Brooklyn Bridge tall ship crash as Adal Jair Maldonado Marcos. Original story is below.
The Mexican navy tall ship that struck the Brooklyn Bridge was underway for less than 5 minutes before its masts crashed into the historic span, and radio calls indicating it was in distress went out only 45 seconds before the deadly collision, according to a timeline laid out by U.S. investigators Monday.
With the help of a tugboat, the Cuauhtemoc training vessel backed away from a Manhattan pier filled with cheering people at 8:20 p.m. on Saturday, officials said.
Videos showed the ship moving slowly at first, its rigging filled with white lights and naval cadets balanced high on the ship's yards - the spars that hold the sails. The tugboat nudged the ship along, keeping it from drifting upstream toward the bridge in the current as it backed up into the East River toward Brooklyn.
But after a few minutes, the ship separated from the tug and picked up speed, still moving in reverse, heading for the bridge.
Four minutes after the ship left the pier, a radio call went out asking for help from any additional tugboats in the area, followed by other requests for assistance, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Brian Young said at a media briefing Monday. Officials did not say whether those radio calls originated from the ship, the tug, or somewhere else.
Forty-five seconds after the first call, the ship, struck the bridge, snapping its three masts. Young said it had reached 6 knots, or nearly 7 mph (11 Kilometers per hour), at the time of the crash. The Cuauhtemoc kept going, passing beneath the bridge and bumping against a pier before ultimately coming to a stop at around 8:27 p.m., Young said.
Footage of the collision shot by horrified onlookers show the ship moving swiftly backwards and then grinding beneath the 142-year-old bridge as its topmasts snapped off. Multiple cadets in the ship’s crew were aloft, standing on the ship’s yards when the collision happened. Several were left dangling by safety harnesses as the masts partially collapsed. Two cadets died.
The tugboat that had helped the ship get out of its berth could be seen on video trying to get ahead of the vessel as it headed toward the bridge but couldn’t overtake it in time.
It remains unclear whether a mechanical problem played a role. NTSB officials said they have not yet been granted permission to board the ship and they have not yet interviewed the captain or the tugboat and harbor pilots who were assisting the vessel as it tried to depart New York for a trip to Iceland.
“This is a start of a long process. We will not be drawing any conclusions. We will not speculate,” said NTSB Board Member Michael Graham. Officials said the investigation could take months to fully complete.
Many crew members on the tall ship flew home to Mexico Monday, officials said.
Seven officers and 172 cadets who were aboard the Cuauhtemoc arrived early Monday at the port of Veracruz, where Mexico’s naval school is, the Mexican navy said in a post on X. Two cadets remained in New York getting medical treatment. They were in stable condition, the navy said.
The crippled Cuauhtemoc remained at a dock in Manhattan on Monday. Officials said preparations were being made to move it to a salvage yard.
The Brooklyn Bridge escaped major damage but at least 19 of the ship's 277 sailors needed medical treatment, according to officials. Among those killed was América Yamilet Sánchez, a 20-year-old sailor who had been studying engineering at the Mexican naval academy. Her family has said she died after falling from one of the Cuauhtemoc’s masts.
The Cuauhtemoc arrived in New York on May 13 as part of a global goodwill tour. The vessel, which sailed for the first time in 1982, had been docked and welcoming visitors in recent days at the tourist-heavy South Street Seaport.
The ship's main mast has a height of 160 feet (50 meters), far too high for the span of the Brooklyn Bridge at any tide.
