Two people died and 19 others were injured after a Mexican Navy training ship hit the Brooklyn Bridge, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Sunday.

The ship snapped all three of its masts as it collided with the New York City landmark late Saturday, while onlookers enjoying the balmy spring evening watched in horror.

“At this time, of the 277 on board, 19 sustained injuries, 2 of which remain in critical condition, and 2 more have sadly passed away from their injuries,” Adams posted on X.

Footage shared online showed the Mexican Navy ship Cuauhtemoc, its sails furled and festive lights draped in its rigging, as it tried to pass beneath the bridge, which sheared off the masts and sent them crashing into the East River.

Hundreds of cheering spectators had gathered minutes earlier to bid farewell to the ship, which had been docked at a pier in southern Manhattan since Tuesday.

The Mexican Navy said in a statement that two crew members died in the crash, with a further 22 injured — half of them critically.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote on X that she was “deeply saddened” by the two crew members’ deaths.

The ship lost power at around 8:20 pm (0020 GMT Sunday) while the captain was maneuvering the vessel, forcing it to head for the bridge abutment on the Brooklyn side, New York police chief of special operations Wilson Aramboles told a press conference.

Several sailors at the top of the ship were injured when it crashed into the bridge, Aramboles said.

It is not clear if these sailors are among the dead.

There was “panic on the ship,” Brooklyn resident Nick Corso, 23, who was standing near the water, told AFP.

He had been poised to take a photo, but when he realized what was happening he switched to video.

“Lots of screaming, some sailors hanging from the masts, looked like panic happening on the ship,” he said.

“I didn’t see anyone fall into the water but lots of people up top. People ran back and were screaming!” Corso, who does marketing for the entertainment company VeeFriends, said.

“The one thing that stood out to me was the panic on the ship, and there was a guy at the back waving for people to move away from the walkway we were on,” he said.

The Mexican Navy said in its statement that no one had fallen into the water, and that no rescue operation had been launched.

The ship had been departing New York at the time and flags also fluttered in the rigging, while an enormous Mexican flag waved off its stern.

Seconds after the ship left the dock, “suddenly we saw all the lights, how they collided, hit the bridge, and they (the sailors) all fell down,” Arturo Acatitla, a 37-year-old New York resident, told AFP.

“While inspections will remain ongoing, there are no signs of structural damage to the Brooklyn Bridge,” the New York transport department posted on X.

The bridge which leads from Brooklyn into Manhattan was closed for some 40 minutes before reopening.

Victims were taken to hospital, Mexican ambassador Esteban Moctezuma Barragan told a news conference, and sirens could be heard near the scene.

New York Police Department’s Aramboles said the Cuauhtemoc, a barque built in 1982 which had a mast height of 48.2 meters (158 feet), was sailing to Iceland when it crashed.

“With mariachi, folk ballet and a community full of emotion, we celebrated its arrival at Pier 17 in Manhattan,” the embassy post said.

The Cuauhtemoc was damaged in the “mishap,” the Mexican Navy confirmed in a statement on X.

“The Ministry of the Navy reaffirms its commitment to the safety of its personnel, transparency in its operations and excellence in the training of future officers of the Mexican Navy,” it said.

The ship was later moved to near the Manhattan Bridge, an AFP journalist saw.

The New York Police Department advised residents on X to avoid the area due to “heavy traffic” and “a large presence of emergency vehicles.”

The incident is the second deadly ship crash into a bridge in the United States in little over a year, after a vessel smashed into a bridge in Baltimore in March 2024, causing it to collapse and killing six road workers.

AFP