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

The Mexican navy tall ship that struck the Brooklyn Bridge was underway for less than minutes before its masts crashed into the historic span and radio calls indicating it was in distress went out only 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 p m on Saturday leaders announced Videos presented 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 meager 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 announced at a media briefing Monday Agents did not say whether those radio calls originated from the ship the tug or somewhere else Forty-five seconds after the first call the ship struck the bridge snapping its three masts Young reported it had reached knots or nearly mph Kilometers per hour at the time of the crash The Cuauhtemoc kept going passing beneath the bridge and bumping against a pier before ultimately coming to a stop at around p m Young disclosed Footage of the collision shot by horrified onlookers show the ship moving swiftly backwards and then grinding beneath the -year-old bridge as its topmasts snapped off Multiple cadets in the ship s crew were aloft standing on the ship s yards when the collision happened Several were left dangling by safety harnesses as the masts partially collapsed Two cadets died The tugboat that had helped the ship get out of its berth could be seen on video trying to get ahead of the vessel as it headed toward the bridge but couldn t overtake it in time It remains unclear whether a mechanical obstacle played a role NTSB executives declared they have not yet been granted permission to board the ship and they have not yet interviewed the captain or the tugboat and harbor pilots who were assisting the vessel as it tried to depart New York for a trip to Iceland This is a start of a long process We will not be drawing any conclusions We will not speculate revealed NTSB Board Member Michael Graham Authorities stated the examination could take months to fully complete Multiple crew members on the tall ship flew home to Mexico Monday administrators announced Seven officers and cadets who were aboard the Cuauhtemoc arrived early Monday at the port of Veracruz where Mexico s naval school is the Mexican navy announced in a post on X Two cadets remained in New York getting health restoration They were in stable condition the navy declared The crippled Cuauhtemoc remained at a dock in Manhattan on Monday Agents mentioned preparations were being made to move it to a salvage yard The Brooklyn Bridge escaped major damage but at least of the ship s sailors needed health cure according to authorities Among those killed was Am rica Yamilet S nchez a -year-old sailor who had been studying engineering at the Mexican naval academy Her family has announced she died after falling from one of the Cuauhtemoc s masts The Cuauhtemoc arrived in New York on May as part of a global goodwill tour The vessel which sailed for the first time in had been docked and welcoming visitors in latest days at the tourist-heavy South Street Seaport The ship s main mast has a height of feet meters far too high for the span of the Brooklyn Bridge at any tide