A Mexican navy tall ship slammed into the Brooklyn Bridge late Saturday — toppling its huge masts into the deck in a horrifying scene that left two crew members dead and nearly two dozen injured. At least four cadets were critically injured, according to fire officials and sources.
It’s unclear at this point if the accident was caused by mechanical failure or human error.
“All of the sudden we heard tons of screaming coming from this massive crowd that was here,” Torrey Leonard said. “Our hearts were skipping a beat because it was just horrible, how it sounded. We heard like this wood crunch. We then stood up from dinner right here and looked at the bridge and we saw what everybody’s already seen happen. Which was just horrifying.”
A number of sailors could be seen dangling from the masts. There were reportedly 277 people on board the ship.
“We could see some people being kind of dragged. There was some, I believe it was some of the staff, they were on the top of the boat. And they were swinging around, back and forth as soon as the ship hit the bridge,” one eyewitness told CNN. “The ship was just so close to us, so we could see all those people really struggling to just like holding onto something to… don’t fall from the boat.”
The New York City Department of Transportation reported in a post to social media that bridge inspectors had so far found “no signs of structural damage to the Brooklyn Bridge.”
Esteban Moctezuma Barragán, Mexican ambassador to the U.S., told reporters the ship has been sailing for about 20 years and was headed from Cozumel, Mexico, to Iceland. The ship arrived in New York City on May 13. There are multiple videos of the incident posted below. Click here to get my breaking news alerts.