A tragic accident unfolded Saturday night when the Mexican Navy’s tall ship, the ARM Cuauhtémoc, slammed into the Brooklyn Bridge while attempting to depart New York City’s East River. The collision killed two sailors and injured at least 19 others, several of whom remain in critical condition.
The massive 297-foot sailing vessel, with masts towering nearly 150 feet high, was carrying 277 people—including cadets, officers, and crew—when it began backing away from Pier 17 around 8:30 p.m. Witnesses reported a mechanical failure left the ship without proper control, sending it straight into the bridge’s lower deck.
The impact was devastating. All three of the Cuauhtémoc’s towering masts snapped violently upon contact with the bridge’s steel understructure, which has a vertical clearance of 127 feet—well below the height of the ship’s masts. As the rigging collapsed, sailors were seen clinging to the broken remains, trying to avoid being crushed or thrown overboard. Miraculously, no one fell into the river.
BREAKING: A ship has just hit the Brooklyn Bridge.
— Ian Jaeger (@IanJaeger29) May 18, 2025
Emergency response was swift. The FDNY, NYPD Harbor Unit, and U.S. Coast Guard rushed to the scene and began triaging the wounded, ferrying the most severely injured to area hospitals. Despite the severity of the crash, officials confirmed that the Brooklyn Bridge did not suffer structural damage and was later reopened after inspection.
Early investigations point to a power failure as the primary cause of the accident, though a full inquiry is now underway. The Cuauhtémoc, a renowned training vessel launched in 1982, was in the middle of a 254-day goodwill tour, set to visit 22 ports across 15 countries. That mission has now been suspended indefinitely.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum expressed condolences to the families of those lost and called for a full and transparent investigation. U.S. transportation authorities are now working alongside their Mexican counterparts to determine exactly what went wrong—and how such a catastrophe could have been prevented.
This deadly incident has renewed concerns about the navigational hazards posed by large ships in tight urban waterways, especially when equipment malfunctions. For now, flags on both sides of the border fly at half-mast as two nations mourn the lives lost in a tragedy that unfolded beneath one of America’s most iconic landmarks.
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