NEW YORK (AP) — A Mexican navy crusing ship hit the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday throughout a promotional tour in New York Metropolis, the highest of its three masts slamming into the enduring span and partially collapsing because the boat floated within the East River.
New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams mentioned 19 individuals had been injured within the crash, 4 critically, however the 142-year-old bridge was spared main harm. The reason for the collision was underneath investigation.
In a scene captured in a number of eyewitness movies, the masts might be seen snapping and partially collapsing as they crashed into the deck of the bridge. Movies confirmed heavy visitors on the span on the time of the collision.
The vessel, which was flying a large inexperienced, white and crimson Mexican flag, then drifted towards the sting of the river as onlookers scrambled away from shore. Sailors might be seen aloft within the rigging on the broken masts.
Sydney Neidell and Lily Katz advised The Related Press they had been sitting exterior to observe the sundown once they noticed the vessel strike the bridge and one among its masts snap. Trying nearer, they noticed somebody dangling from excessive on the ship.
“We noticed somebody dangling, and I couldn’t inform if it was simply blurry or my eyes, and we had been capable of zoom in on our cellphone and there was somebody dangling from the harness from the highest for like a minimum of like quarter-hour earlier than they had been capable of rescue them,” Katz mentioned.
They mentioned they noticed two individuals faraway from the ship on stretchers onto smaller boats.
The Mexican navy mentioned in a put up on the social platform X that the Cuauhtemoc, an academy coaching vessel, was broken in an accident with the Brooklyn Bridge that prevented it from persevering with its voyage.
It added that the standing of personnel and materials was underneath assessment by naval and native authorities, which had been offering help.
The International Affairs Ministry mentioned on X that its ambassador to the U.S. and officers from the Mexican consulate in New York had been involved with native authorities to supply help to “the affected cadets,” but it surely didn’t point out accidents.
The Brooklyn Bridge, which opened in 1883, has an almost 1,600-foot essential span supported by two masonry towers. Greater than 100,000 autos and an estimated 32,000 pedestrians cross each day, in accordance with the town’s transportation division, and its walkway is a significant vacationer attraction.
The Cuauhtemoc — about 297 toes lengthy and 40 toes broad, in accordance with the Mexican navy — sailed for the primary time in 1982.
Every year it units out on the finish of lessons on the naval navy college to complete cadets’ coaching. This yr it left the Mexican port of Acapulco, on the Pacific coast, on April 6 with 277 individuals onboard, the navy mentioned then.
The Mexican consulate mentioned Might 13 on X that the Cuauhtemoc, additionally referred to as the “Ambassador and Knight of the Seas,” arrived that day and docked at pier 17. It invited individuals to go to by Might 17.
The ship was scheduled to go to 22 ports in 15 nations, together with Kingston, Jamaica; Havana, Cuba; Cozumel, Mexico; and New York.
It additionally had deliberate to go to Reykjavik, Iceland; Bordeaux, Saint Malo and Dunkirk, France; and Aberdeen, Scotland, amongst others, for a complete of 254 days, 170 of them at sea.
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