The National Transportation Safety Board has acknowledged that they have not yet been able to investigate the Mexican navy ship that collided with the Brooklyn Bridge or interview the pilots involved in the incident.
Questions remain about how the sailors rammed into New York City’s Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday evening, leaving two dead and at least 19 hurt.
Onlookers watched in horror as the towering 300-foot-tall masts crumbled as desperate sailors clung on for their lives.
Almost 300 crew members were on board the ship, known as the Cuauhtemoc, on a celebratory voyage marking the completion of their naval training and representing Mexico on an international journey.
But the sailors appeared to lose control of the engine and couldn’t stop the boat in time to prevent the crash.
The NTSB stated on Monday that they are making efforts to obtain crucial evidence promptly in order to identify the cause of the crash, but they cautioned that the investigation might stretch over several months.
They gave a minute-by-minute timeline of the ship’s last moves and said it was docked in New York City on May 13 around noon.
The ship stayed at port for about four days, and then left at 8:20 pm on Saturday down the East River with the assistance of a tug boat, according to NTSB’s lead investigator Brian Young.
The sun had just set, and westerly winds were blowing at 10 knots, which is classified as a gentle breeze. The current was flowing at 0.3 knots toward the bridge.
By 8:24 pm, the ship had made a sharp turn and picked up speed, and pilots issued a desperate radio broadcast for help from other tugboats in the area.
Two more calls for help rang out before the Cuauhtemoc’s masts crashed into the bridge just seconds later.
At 8:27 pm, the boat came to a complete stop, and by 8:30 pm, first responders were on the scene.
Michael Graham, an NTSB member, insisted that the Brooklyn Bridge didn’t suffer any structural damage, saying that only a walkway used by surveyors was affected.
When asked about the tug boat that was seen floating beside the Cuauhtemoc, Young said they’re looking into the pilot’s relationship with the crash.
They confirmed that the tug boat helped the Mexican ship launch from the pier, but weren’t sure what it was doing at the moment of the crash.
The officials also admitted that they hadn’t even boarded the ship yet or interviewed any of the pilots involved.
ATTORNEY SQUASHES RUMORS
The press conference came after the attorney for the pilot of the Mexican ship shut down rumors that rough water conditions caused the tragedy.
The lawyer, James Mercante, said his client has no clue “what caused the ship to be rapidly accelerating in a backward direction,” he told NewsNation.
The NTSB confirmed that the pilot had planned to travel westward and head out to sea before the stern suddenly lurched toward the bridge.
According to Mercante, the ship may have been stuck in reverse, causing it to head in the wrong direction.
VICTIMS NAMED
The two victims killed in the tragedy have been named as young cadets America Yamilet Sanchez and Adal Jair Marcos.
They were both hanging from one of the three masts that had snapped in half by the fatal impact.
Sanchez, 20, was a talented swimmer who came from the port city of Veracruz.
Marcos, 22, who hails from Oaxaca, was remembered as an adventurous world traveler.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has shared her heartbreak over the deaths and said she is thinking of their families during this emotional time.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of two crew members of the Cuauhtémoc Training Ship, who lost their lives in the unfortunate accident in New York Harbor,” she wrote on X.
“Our sympathy and support go out to their families.”
