Mexican sailors aboard doomed Navy ship that crashed into Brooklyn Bridge will set sail again this week — on different vessel

New York Post

2 days ago

Crewmembers from the doomed Mexican navy boat that smashed into the Brooklyn Bridge are gearing up to set sail again — this time on a hulking tank landing vessel.
Nearly two weeks after the deadly May 17 crash in the Big Apple, the surviving cadets will resume their training course Sunday aboard the 262-foot-long ARM Usumacinta, the Spanish news outlet El Gráfico reported.
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum and Admiral Raymundo Pedro Morales Ángeles are slated to give the order to cast off from the port of Veracruz during the country's Navy Day celebrations, the outlet said.
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4 The sailors will take off from the port of Veracruz, on board the ARM Usumacinta, on June 1.
US Navy/Petty Officer 3rd Class Dylan Lavin
'The crew aboard our ARM Usumacinta (A-412) has sailed national and international waters, braving the seas to bring humanitarian aid and hope to those most in need in disaster situations and areas,' Mexico's Navy Ministry said in a statement.
The powerful vessel — which took part in a multinational training mission organized by the US Navy's Third Pacific Fleet, RIMPAC2024, last summer — uses propulsion engines, a far cry from the ill-fated Cuauhtémoc, which relied on wind power to propel its 297-foot-long deck through the sea.
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4 The training excursion will resume nearly two weeks after the Cuauhtémoc's fatal crash into the Brooklyn Bridge on May 17.
@SAMMMSPARKS via REUTERS
4 The wreck — which is still under investigation — killed two young cadets and injured 19 others.
James Keivom
The sailboat's three masts cracked and broke as they struck the 142-year-old Brooklyn Bridge during the Cuauhtémoc's departure from Manhattan, killing 23-year-old Adal Jair Maldonado Marcos and 20-year-old América Yamilet Sánchez, and injuring 19 others.
There were 277 crew members aboard — including 213 men and 64 women — most of whom were cadets from the Heroica Escuela Naval Militar, the Mexican naval training academy in Veracruz.
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The Cuauhtémoc had been scheduled to sail to Iceland, then continue a months-long voyage to ports in France, Scotland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Spain and Barbados before returning to the Mexican coast in November.
However, due to the Usumacinta's structural and operational differences, the vessel cannot follow the Cuauhtémoc's original route.
4 The Mexican navy trainees were granted a week-long reprieve from their service obligations to visit family.
James Keivom
The new itinerary — and whether all the crash survivors will be on board — wasn't immediately clear.
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In the wake of the wreck injured sailors were flown home to Veracruz for treatment at Antón Lizardo Naval Hospital, where they also underwent psychological evaluations, according to the Spanish news outlet La Razón.
They were later granted a week-long reprieve from their navy obligations to visit family, a break that was 'fundamental' for their emotional recovery, Mexican navy sources told the outlet.
The Brooklyn Bridge incident remains under investigation. The Cuauhtémoc remains docked at Pier 36 in Manhattan.