Two people were killed and at least 19 other injured after a large Mexican navy training sailboat crashed on the Brooklyn bridge in New York, said the city mayor.
Eric Adams said the Cuauhtemoc lost power before the collision on Saturday evening. US officials said 277 people were on the ship, who was in good will.
Images show that the imposing masts of Cuauhtemoc cut the bridge while the ship was under the famous structure on Saturday evening.
The crew members stood on the masts at the time of the collision, the authorities said, who all broken and came across the deck.
New York mayor Eric Adams said on X that two people died and that 19 were injured, two of whom were in a critical condition. A total of 277 people were on board.
The mayor declared earlier that Brooklyn Bridge had not had any major damage and that US officials said no one had fallen into the water.
The Mexican navy had previously put the number of injured at 22. He said the incident was investigated.
The Cuauhtémoc lost the top of the two masts and all the staff on the ship was taken into account, the New York Coastal Guard said in a statement, the injured were transported to the hospital.
New York Police Department’s Operations Head said that he thought that the “mechanical problems” and a reduction in electricity had caused a collision to the ship with one of the pillars.
Crows that looked at the trajectory of the ship run away from the water’s edge while the masts collided with the bridge.
Kelvin Flores told the BBC that he was at work when he had seen the accident.
He went out in the street to find a lot of “agitation and a lot of chaos” with firefighters and police trying to reach the premises, but the roads were obstructed by traffic.
“The simple fact of seeing the real damage was crazy,” he said. “People carrying civilians … They were trying to injure themselves.”
New York police told residents to avoid the Brooklyn Bridge district, South Street Seaport in Manhattan and Dumbo in Brooklyn.
“Expect intense traffic and a large presence of emergency vehicles in the surroundings,” said the city’s police department on X.
The Cuauhtémoc was then towed.
The ship, which measures 297 feet long (91 m) and 40 feet (12 m) wide, according to the Mexican navy, sailed for the first time in 1982.
Each year, he browses at the end of the courses at the naval military school to finish the training of the cadets.
This year, he left the Mexican port of Acapulco on April 6, said the navy. Its final destination was to be Iceland.
