The Sailing School Ship ARM ‘Cuauhtémoc’, of the Mexican Navy’s Secretariat of the Navy, had a dramatic accident this Saturday when it collided with the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, was in Ibiza during the month of July 2023. The vessel, known for its impressive silhouette and the huge tricolor flag that flies on its bow, called at the island’s port as part of its international training tour.
The sailing ship, with 277 sailors on board, crashed into the underside of the iconic New York bridge at around 8:20 p.m (local time) in the early hours of Sunday morning in Spain. The accident left at least 19 people injured, four of them in very serious condition. Two of the latter died a few hours later, according to New York Mayor Eric Adams.
This is the ‘Cuauhtémoc’, the imposing Mexican training ship that will arrive in Ibiza The marine embassy of Mexico opens its doors in Ibiza
Numerous eyewitnesses were stunned by the incident, which was widely documented on social networks through videos showing how the ‘Cuauhtémoc’ approached the bridge before its two main masts impacted and broke apart upon colliding with the structure. At the time of the incident, the Brooklyn Bridge was crowded with moving vehicles.
Docked in Manhattan since Tuesday
The accident occurred when the masts of the ship impacted against the base of the infrastructure, considered one of the city’s major tourist attractions.
Hundreds of spectators had minutes earlier fired with applause and cheers to Mexico to the ship – which had been docked at a pier in lower Manhattan since Tuesday – before heading out to sea with sails set and dozens of sailors in the profusely lit rigging.
“I imagine the ship lost power and was swept by the current toward the bridge abutment” on the other side of the river, said the nYPD special operations chief, Wilson Aramboles, at a press conference.
Message from the Mexican Navy
“During the departure maneuver of the sailing ship ‘Cuauhtémoc’ in New York, there was a mishap with the Brooklyn Bridge which caused damage to the training ship, preventing for the moment the continuation of the training cruise,” the Mexican Navy completed in its message on the social network X.
According to the agency, no crewmember fell into the water, so “no rescue operations were necessary”.
After remaining closed for about 40 minutes, traffic on the bridge linking Manhattan and Brooklyn reopened. According to authorities, there is no sign of structural damage.
Like several Spanish-American training ships, the ‘Cuauhtémoc’, the ‘Cuauhtémoc’ and the ‘Cuauhtémoc’ have [en honor al último emperador azteca] was built at the Celaya Shipyard in Erandio (Vizcaya) for a little more than a year, until it was launched in July 1983 in Santurce.
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