GMM Safety | 2025-05-22 | Case Incidents |

Investigators have confirmed that no distress call was made by the Mexican Navy’s tall ship Cuauhtémoc before it collided with the Brooklyn Bridge on May 17, leaving two crew members dead and 22 injured.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is leading the investigation, revealed that although the ship did request tugboat assistance just before the collision, no emergency signal or mayday was transmitted.

An NTSB investigator, Brian Young, said they are currently trying to understand the crew’s actions during the last minutes before the accident. “They asked for help, but there was no formal distress call,” he stated during a briefing.

Investigators are now reviewing data from the ship’s voyage recorder and interviewing crew members to determine what decisions were made as the ship lost control.

The ship was under the guidance of a New York harbor pilot, as required for foreign vessels in U.S. waters. Admiral Raymundo Pedro Morales Ángeles of the Mexican Navy mentioned that the harbor pilot may have had as little as 80 to 90 seconds to react once the ship began accelerating in reverse.

Officials still don’t know what caused the sudden increase in speed, from a safe 2.3 knots to 6 knots, as the vessel backed away from Manhattan’s Pier 17 and struck the bridge.

Surveillance video shows the ship moving rapidly in reverse while a tugboat tried to assist from behind. Experts believe the ship’s engines might have lost control, or the current may have pushed the vessel faster than expected. However, the exact causes remain unclear.

While the Brooklyn Bridge sustained no major structural damage, the Cuauhtémoc suffered significant losses; its three tall masts were broken, and dozens were injured.

Among the deceased were 20-year-old cadet América Yamileth Sánchez Hernández and 23-year-old sailor Adal Jair Maldonado Marcos.

Of the 277 people onboard, most have returned to Mexico, while 94 crew members remain with the ship, currently docked at Pier 36. Two cadets are still hospitalised in New York.

The NTSB has said it may take up to two years to fully complete the investigation, but a preliminary report is expected within 30 days.

References: Reuters, The New York Times