Radio calls asked tugs for help 45 seconds before Mexican ship hit Brooklyn Bridge, officials say

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

Updated 7:26 PM EDT, May 19, 2025


The Mexican navy tall ship that struck the Brooklyn Bridge was underway for less than 5 minutes before its masts crashed into the historic span, and radio calls indicating it was in distress went out only 45 seconds before the deadly collision, according to a timeline laid out by U.S. investigators Monday.

With the help of a tugboat, the Cuauhtemoc training vessel backed away from a Manhattan pier filled with cheering people at 8:20 p.m. on Saturday, officials said.

Videos showed the ship moving slowly at first, its rigging filled with white lights and naval cadets balanced high on the ship’s yards — the spars that hold the sails. The tugboat nudged the ship along, keeping it from drifting upstream toward the bridge in the current as it backed up into the East River toward Brooklyn.

But after a few minutes, the ship separated from the tug and picked up speed, still moving in reverse, heading for the bridge. Four minutes after the ship left the pier, a radio call went out asking for help from any additional tugboats in the area, followed by other requests for assistance, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Brian Young said at a media briefing Monday. Officials did not say whether those radio calls originated from the ship, the tug, or somewhere else.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/brooklyn-bridge-mexican-ship-crash-2cd92eb7cea17552d6c36be2916d2bbd