A majestic tall ship collided with the Brooklyn Bridge Saturday night, injuring at least two people, FDNY sources said.
Videos on social media show the boat drifting backwards around 8:30 p.m. toward the famous span on the Brooklyn side of the East River, with a huge Mexican flag fluttering off of its stern, as a tugboat motors next to it a little distance away.
As a crowd of onlookers in Brooklyn Bridge Park begin to scream in shock, all three masts of the Mexican Navy ship Cuauhtémoc, one after the other, smash into the underside of the Brooklyn Bridge and snap forward at a 90-degree angle. The boat then continues to drift onward north of the bridge.
Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News
The Mexican naval ship Cuauhtemoc is pictured in the East River after striking the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday. (Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News)
In one video showing the aftermath of the crash, a person appears to be dangling from the sailing ship’s crow’s nest.
Initially, police reported there were two injuries, but later updated that to potentially more, although they could not immediately say how many people were injured or the extent of the injuries.
Search-and-rescue efforts in the water were underway and injured persons were being taken to the Brooklyn Navy Yard for treatment.
Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News
The Mexican naval ship Cuauhtemoc is pictured in the East River after striking the Brooklyn Bridge. (Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News)
Alicia Jones, 39, was near the Dumbo ferry dock when she witnessed the crash.
“I was actually so confused by what was happening, because it seemed like it was so obvious that it wasn’t going to clear the Brooklyn Bridge…as it was approaching,” she said.
“I saw when it came across from the Manhattan side, and everyone was looking at it. It was blaring music. The music was so loud,” she said. “And then it kept getting closer to the Brooklyn Bridge. And I just kept thinking, ‘There is absolutely no way that they’re going that way. They’re gonna turn around right?’ And they didn’t.”
Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News
Damaged masts are seen on the Mexican naval ship Cuauhtemoc in the East River after the ship struck the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday. (Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News)
The Cuauhtemoc — about 297 feet long and 40 feet wide, according to the Mexican Navy — sailed for the first time in 1982.
An academy training vessel, each year it sets out at the end of classes at the naval military school to finish cadets’ training. This year it left the Mexican port of Acapulco, on the Pacific coast, on April 6 with 277 people onboard, the navy said then.
The ship was scheduled to visit 22 ports in 15 nations, including Kingston, Jamaica; Havana, Cuba; Cozumel, Mexico; and New York.
It had also planned to go to Reykjavik, Iceland; Bordeaux, Saint Malo and Dunkirk, France; and Aberdeen, Scotland, among others, for a total of 254 days, 170 of them at sea.
The Mexican Navy said in a post on X that the Cuauhtemoc was damaged in an accident with the Brooklyn Bridge that prevented it from continuing its voyage.
Julian Roberts-Grmela / New York Daily News
The Mexican naval ship Cuauhtemoc is pictured in the East River on Saturday. (Julian Roberts-Grmela / New York Daily News)
It added that the status of personnel and material was under review by naval and local authorities, which were providing assistance.
“The Secretary of the Navy renews its commitment to the safety of personnel, transparency in its operations and excellent training for future officers of the Mexican Armada,” it said in Spanish.
With News Wire Services
Originally Published: May 17, 2025 at 9:56 PM EDT
