The collision happened just before 8:30 p.m. near Brooklyn Bridge Park as horrified onlookers watched helplessly as the massive ship — with almost 300 sailors on board — barreled toward, then smashed into the 142-year-old bridge, the three towering masts snapping upon impact and crew members left dangling in the air.
Early Sunday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that two people had died in the collision, and that among the injured, two were in critical condition.
“We are praying for everyone on board and their families and are grateful to our first responders who quickly jumped into action, ensuring this accident wasn’t much worse,” Adams said in a post on X.
The Cuauhtémoc, a training ship on an international goodwill mission, was set to disembark and was next headed to Iceland when the collision happened.
Authorities say the boat’s captain lost control of the vessel, and Adams on Sunday morning said the ship had lost power. The ship’s masts snapped as they struck the bridge’s underside, and pieces fell onto the deck. Officials say the iconic span itself did not sustain structural damage. All lanes on the bridge reopened after a brief closure following the collision.
The authorities said that 277 people were aboard the ship, and that nobody fell into the water, even as some sailors were left dangling from harnesses on the masts after the crash.
The victims were being taken away on stretchers at Pier 17 at South Street Seaport.
The National Transportation Safety Board is on site and will begin its investigation, but preliminary information shows it was likely a mechanical issue with the sailboat, according to officials.
Witness videos capture the ship’s ominous approach toward the bridge. In one video, a woman filming the ship, which was festooned with amber lights and a giant Mexican flag, can be heard wondering aloud if the ship might collide with the bridge. When the ship’s mast strikes the bottom of the bridge, she screams, “It crashed! It crashed!” in Spanish, and then, in English, as the ship continues to approach the Dumbo shore, “Stop! Stop!”
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