• US safety officials are investigating after the Mexican ship Cuauhtemoc crashed into Brooklyn Bridge, killing two crew members.
• Nineteen others were injured, with two in critical condition, during the incident involving 277 people.
• The ship lost power while departing New York, leading to panic as it struck the bridge.

US safety officials have launched a probe after a 45m tall Mexican sailing ship crashed into New York’s iconic Brooklyn Bridge, snapping its masts and killing two crew members.

Numerous sailors were positioned among the navy vessel Cuauhtemoc’s rigging at the time, video of the incident showed.

New York Mayor Eric Adams said early on Sunday that 277 people had been on board the vessel and that two people had died from their injuries, without specifying where they were located on the vessel.

Nineteen others sustained injuries, he said, two of whom were in critical condition.

The white-hulled ship was moored on Sunday along the banks of the East River, its mangled masts contrasting against colourful decorations for its US departure.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on social media that it was “launching a go-team” to conduct an initial probe of the crash.

Nearby the ship, Aldo Ordonez told AFP that his sister, 24-year-old cadet Alejandra Ordonez, had been standing among the sails when the ship struck the Brooklyn Bridge.

His sister was temporarily left hanging from a sail, he said, but sustained only minor injuries and slept with others on the boat.

Aldo Ordonez arrived on Sunday morning from Mexico City after seeing the accident on television.

Crew members were expected to fly home to Mexico later on Sunday, he said.

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

The ship lost power around 8.20pm (local time) while the captain was manoeuvring the vessel, forcing it to head for a bridge abutment on the Brooklyn side, New York police chief of special operations Wilson Aramboles told a press conference.

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 realised 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.

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 fluttered in its rigging, while an enormous Mexican flag waved off its stern.

The Cuauhtemoc, built in 1982, was sailing to Iceland when it crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge, the world’s longest suspension bridge when it opened in 1883.

The incident is the second deadly ship crash into a US bridge in little over a year, after a fully laden cargo vessel smashed into a bridge in Baltimore, Maryland in March 2024, causing it to collapse, leaving six road workers dead.

- Agence France-Presse