NYC mayor says 2 people have died after a Mexican navy tall ship hit the Brooklyn Bridge

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams says 2 radical person died aft a Mexican navy gangly vessel deed the Brooklyn Bridge Saturday.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier communicative follows below.

NEW YORK (AP) — A Mexican navy sailing vessel astir to permission New York for a goodwill circuit to Iceland struck the Brooklyn Bridge Saturday night, snapping its 3 masts, injuring unit members and leaving immoderate dangling from harnesses precocious successful the aerial waiting for help.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said astatine slightest 19 radical needed aesculapian attraction aft the crash, including 4 with superior injuries, but the 142-year-old span was spared large damage. The origin of the collision was nether investigation.

In a country captured successful aggregate eyewitness videos, the ship, called the Cuauhtemoc, could beryllium seen traveling swiftly toward the span adjacent the Brooklyn broadside of the East River. Then, its 3 masts struck the bridge's main span and snapped, 1 by one, arsenic the vessel kept moving.

Videos showed dense postulation connected the span astatine the clip of the collision.

The vessel, which was flying a elephantine green, achromatic and reddish Mexican emblem and had 277 radical aboard, past drifted toward the piers lining the riverbank arsenic onlookers scrambled away.

Sailors could beryllium seen aloft successful the rigging connected the damaged masts but, remarkably, nary 1 fell into the water, officials said.

Sydney Neidell and Lily Katz told The Associated Press they were sitting extracurricular to ticker the sunset erstwhile they saw the vas onslaught the bridge. Looking closer, they saw idiosyncratic dangling from precocious connected the ship.

“We saw idiosyncratic dangling, and I couldn’t archer if it was conscionable blurry oregon my eyes, and we were capable to zoom successful connected our telephone and determination was idiosyncratic dangling from the harness from the apical for similar astatine slightest similar 15 minutes earlier they were capable to rescue them,” Katz said.

Just earlier the collision, Nick Corso, 23, took his telephone retired to seizure the backdrop of the vessel and the span against a sunset, Instead, helium heard what sounded similar the large snapping of a “big twig." Several much snaps followed.

People successful his vicinity began moving backmost and “pandemonium” connected the vessel erupted, helium said. He aboriginal saw a fistful of radical dangling from the mast.

“I didn’t cognize what to think, I was like, is this a movie?” helium said.

The Mexican navy said successful a station connected the societal level X that the Cuauhtemoc was an academy grooming vessel. It said a full of 22 radical were injured, 19 of whom needed aesculapian treatment.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry said connected X that its ambassador to the U.S. and officials from the Mexican consulate successful New York were successful interaction with section authorities to supply assistance.

The Brooklyn Bridge, which opened successful 1883, has a astir 1,600-foot (490-meter) main span supported by 2 masonry towers. More than 100,000 vehicles and an estimated 32,000 pedestrians transverse each day, according to the city’s proscription department, and its walkway is simply a large tourer attraction.

Traffic was halted aft the collision but was allowed to resume aft the span underwent an archetypal inspection, metropolis officials said.

The Cuauhtemoc — astir 297 feet agelong and 40 feet wide (90.5 meters agelong and 12 meters wide), according to the Mexican navy — sailed for the archetypal clip successful 1982.

The vessel’s main mast has a tallness of 160 feet (48.9 meters), according to the Mexican government.

After the collision, a tugboat held it successful spot successful the East River betwixt the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges.

Each twelvemonth the vessel sets retired astatine the extremity of classes astatine the naval subject schoolhouse to decorativeness cadets' training. This twelvemonth it near the Mexican larboard of Acapulco, connected the Pacific coast, connected April 6, the navy said.

The Mexican consulate said May 13 connected X that the Cuauhtemoc, besides called the “Ambassador and Knight of the Seas,” arrived that time and docked astatine Pier 17. It invited radical to sojourn done May 17.

The vessel was scheduled to sojourn 22 ports successful 15 nations, including Kingston, Jamaica; Havana, Cuba; Cozumel, Mexico; and New York.

It besides had planned to spell to Reykjavik, Iceland; Bordeaux, Saint Malo and Dunkirk, France; and Aberdeen, Scotland, among others, for a full of 254 days, 170 of them astatine sea.