Brooklyn Bridge undamaged after fatal crash with Mexican tall ship, NTSB says

No structural damage was done to the Brooklyn Bridge when a Mexican navy tall ship crashed Saturday night and struck the underside, snapping the vessel's mast, killing two sailors and injuring 17 others, the National Transportation Safety Board said Monday.

The ship, which Newsday previously reported had left port and got trapped in an East River current, had suddenly accelerated from about 2 knots and was traveling up to about 6 knots in the run-up to the crash, and a series of radio calls for help went out in the moments before, starting about 8:24 p.m., Brian Young, an NTSB marine accident investigator, said at a news conference Monday afternoon in Brooklyn. By 8:30 p.m. Sunday, rescuers were on the scene.

Young said the agency, which investigates major accidents and other incidents involving waterways, aviation, highways and railroads, is looking into the possible role of a tugboat that was helping to guide the ARM Cuauhtémoc, a training tall ship with 277 sailors aboard, out of port.

Young and NTSB Board Member Michael Graham said no probable cause had yet been determined, and investigators were working with the Mexican government to arrange interviews with those aboard the ship. The crew is living on the Cuauhtémoc, which is docked on the East Side of Manhattan and will at some point, when the ship is structurally sound, be towed to a repair facility, Young and Graham said. Graham mentioned a report that the city helped 179 cadets return to Mexico on Sunday night. 

Over the weekend, the ship had finished five days of being docked at Pier 17 as part of a goodwill tour co-hosted by the South Street Seaport Museum, according to the museum's website. The ship was leaving port when it lost power, got caught in an East River current going in the opposite direction and eventually hit the bridge, New York City Office of Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol said Sunday.

On Monday Graham said "nothing structural" on the bridge was damaged.

"We are here to gather perishable evidence," Graham said. 

The NTSB would be looking at possible engine failure and talking to the crew as well as people who may have witnessed the crash, Young said.

The final report by the NTSB will take 12 to 24 months and investigators will be scrutinizing the crew, the vessel and the environment. A preliminary update on the crash is expected within a month.

Just watched the Brooklyn Bridge get smoked live by a boat with a massive Mexican flag pic.twitter.com/R8eJKwJaJ2

— Nelson Slinkard (@TheWillieNelson) May 18, 2025

Video taken at the scene shows the Cuauhtémoc's masts snapping from the impact.

"The ship was moving down toward Bay Ridge, where it was going to anchor and refuel," Iscol said Sunday.

"It reportedly lost power, lost steerage, then because of the current, ended up under the Brooklyn Bridge," he said.

Also on Sunday, several members of the crew were seen climbing the masts to repair the rigging as investigators examined the ship's deck.

Witness@ntsb.gov is the email for anyone to tell the NTSB they have bystander video. The email will be responded to with a link to upload video.