Doomed Mexican ship's crew were on masts for touching ‘manning the yards' salute when boat hit Brooklyn Bridge
The doomed sailors aboard the Mexican tall ship that crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge were participating in a touching tradition called 'manning the yards,'' which pays homage to host ports, at the time.
Dozens of crew members on the Mexican navy training ship Cuauhtemoc were lined up, standing with their arms apart, along rigging for the craft's 147-foot-high masts around 8:20 p.m. Saturday in a sign of respect that seamen frequently do when entering and leaving port, NTSB officials said Monday.
The ship then smashed into the historic span, leaving sailors dangling or caught up from the crumpled masts, while others fell onto the boat.
The tragedy killed two young sailors and injured more than 20 other people on the ship, including a pair who are still critical.
The crew of the Cuauhtemoc last week also had demonstrated the maritime 'Manning the Yards' tradition when The Post was on board for a celebration of the ship's arrival at the South Street Seaport.
The sailors precariously stood on the beams and some of the rigging for their salute.
But getting down from the rigging afterward is no easy matter, and the cadets may have been caught off guard before Sunday's crash.
'I was speaking to one of the crew members who was still on the boat, and they stated [that] to get up there, it takes 5 minutes roughly to climb up there,' Mayor Eric Adams said on during an appearance on Fox 5's 'Good Day New York' on Monday.
'So that can give you a real indicator of how high it is,' he said.
NTSB officials Monday said the tragedy unfolded very quickly after the ship cast off from Pier 17 in Lower Manhattan with the help of a harbor tugboat.
'At 8:24 p.m., a [voyage data recorder] radio broadcast was sounded requesting assistance from other tugboats in the area of the Brooklyn Bridge,' investigator Michael Young said at a briefing.
'That was followed by two other requests for assistance, and at 8:24 and 45 seconds, the vessel's mast struck the underside of the Brooklyn Bridge. At 8:27, the vessel came to a stop.'
He said NYPD and FDNY boats were at the scene by 8:30 p.m.
The NTSB said it hopes to have a preliminary report on the tragedy within 30 days but warned that a full accounting of the collision could take as long as two years.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Historic Sleepy Hollow lighthouse gutted by arsonists one year after undergoing $3.4 million restoration: ‘Heartbreaking'
Now they're in deep ship. A group of baby-faced arsonists burned and gutted Sleepy Hollow's beloved historic lighthouse just a year after its multi-million dollar renovation, police said Wednesday. Four young suspects hopped a locked fence leading to the charming red-and-white landmark at around 3:30 a.m. Saturday then smashed a window and climbed into the 142-year-old structure, Westchester County Police Public Information Officer Kieran O'Leary told The Post. Advertisement 5 Police released footage of four 'teens' suspected of setting the lighthouse ablaze. Westchester County Police The twisted firebugs then allegedly lit parts of the bottom floor, which is set up as a museum, on fire and damaged antique furniture and books — leaving behind smoldering ash, broken glass and more than $100,000 in damage, officials said. 'Setting a fire and trashing a place is bad enough. It's also one of the county's more iconic places,' O'Leary said. Advertisement 5 The suspects allegedly hopped a locked fence to break into the lighthouse, according to police. Westchester County Police 'It's a cherished landmark,' he added. 'Everybody in Westchester is really upset about it.' 5 The arsonists broke through a window and trashed the lighthouse. Westchester County Police Outraged locals have since flooded police with tips after cops released a photo of the alleged arsonists strolling over a bridge leading to the lighthouse, O'Leary said. Advertisement The wild vandalism comes a year after the county unveiled a $3.4 million renovation of the lighthouse's interior — including a restoration of the historic spotlight that guided ships away from the banks of the Hudson River for decades. 5 The lighthouse was left charred and gutted. Westchester County Police Built in 1883, the lighthouse at Kingsland Point Park in Sleepy Hollow once housed a family and is now on the National Register of Historic Places. 'It's disappointing, and it's heartbreaking to see this kind of damage that was just completely unnecessary,' Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins said in News 12 footage. Advertisement 5 Damage included broken antique furniture, police said. Westchester County Police A Westchester County employee first spotted smoke wafting from the beloved landmark Saturday morning, prompting firefighters to rush to the blaze. The lighthouse is now temporarily closed for repairs. 'There have been weddings and proposals there and it's more recently become an Instagram spot,' O'Leary said. 'There's been a strong reaction to the vandalism.'
CNBC
3 hours ago
- CNBC
Immigrant said to be framed for writing Trump threat letters remains detained, for now
An undocumented immigrant who prosecutors say was framed by a jail inmate for writing threatening letters about President Donald Trump was ordered Wednesday to remain detained by an immigration judge in Chicago to give a government lawyer more time to review evidence in the case. But an attorney for the immigrant Ramon Morales-Reyes, said he was hopeful that the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, resident would be released on bond after another immigration court hearing scheduled for Tuesday. The judge at the hearing will consider whether the 54-year-old Morales-Reyes is a flight risk or a danger to the community, said Cain Oulahan, his lawyer. Oulahan said that the Mexican national is eligible for bond. Morales-Reyes, who works as a dishwasher, has lived in the United States since 1986, has three children who are U.S. citizens and owns a home in Milwaukee, the attorney said. Oulahan told CNBC in an interview after the hearing that Morales-Reyes' family is "worried." 'They're having a hard time," the lawyer said. "They really want to see him again, but they're trying to keep a low profile." Oulahan said, "There were threats on social media" directed at the family after his arrest was announced in late May by the Department of Homeland Security. Morales-Reyes, who appeared via a video link at Wednesday's hearing, has been detained in a Wisconsin jail in the immigration case since May 22, when he was arrested outside his daughter's school on suspicion of writing the letters about Trump. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem touted his arrest more than a week later. "Thanks to our ICE officers, this illegal alien who threatened to assassinate President Trump is behind bars," Noem said on May 28. But questions about whether Morales-Reyes actually wrote the letters sent threatening Trump and others to three law enforcement offices in Wisconsin were raised as early as May 24, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Milwaukee District Attorney's Office on Monday. That complaint says that a man named Demetric Scott confessed to writing those letters — which bore Morales-Reyes' return address — from jail in a bid to get the immigrant deported so that he would be unavailable to testify at Scott's trial on armed robbery and battery charges in July. That case relates to Scott's alleged robbery of Morales-Reyes in 2023. Scott, a 52-year-old with a long criminal record, is now charged with identity theft, felony intimidation of a witness, and bail jumping in connection with the letters threatening Trump. The Milwaukee DA's Office on Wednesday declined to answer when CNBC asked when it notified DHS that Scott had confessed to writing the letters, citing the fact that the case is pending. CNBC has asked DHS when it was notified of the confession. "It does seem to me like there was some knowledge by local law enforcement that he didn't write the letters," Oulahan, the lawyer for Morales-Reyes, told CNBC. A month before being detained, Morales-Reyes had an application for a special visa for immigrants who are crime victims accepted for processing by the federal government. At Wednesday's bond hearing for Morales-Reyes in Chicago immigration court in Chicago, DHS attorney Caitlin Corcoran told Judge Carla Espinoza that she needed time to review the DA's criminal complaint against Scott, which she had only received on Tuesday evening. Corcoran did not argue against Morales-Reyes' eligibility for bond. DHS has said Morales-Reyes has a criminal record that includes arrests for "felony hit-and-run, criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct with a domestic abuse modifier." But at Wednesday's hearing, Corcoran said she does not have proof that Morales-Reyes was convicted of the hit and run, which occurred in 1996. The DHS lawyer said the immigrant does have a 1996 conviction for disorderly conduct. Oulahan told CNBC it is not clear if the immigrant was convicted of the hit-and-run, but said that even if he had been it would not be a so-called crime of moral turpitude that would make him ineligible for bond in the detention case.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Man Robbed Mexican Immigrant, then Wrote Fake Trump Threats in His Name So He'd Be Deported Before Testifying: Prosecutors
A Milwaukee man allegedly confessed to framing a Mexican immigrant by writing fake death threats in his name against President Donald Trump and members of ICE. Demetric Deshawn Scott, who will soon go on trial in an armed robbery case, is accused of trying to get trial witness Ramón Morales Reyes deported so that he wouldn't be able to testify. Police listened in on multiple jail calls in which Scott allegedly detailed his plan to sabotage the trial, including enlisting his mother to mail the threatening letters from her home.A Wisconsin defendant faked assassination threats against President Donald Trump in order to get the star witness in his criminal trial deported, prosecutors claim. Demetric Deshawn Scott was charged with identity theft, bail jumping and felony intimidation of a witness in a criminal complaint filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court on Monday, June 2, and obtained by The Washington Post. Scott, 52, is accused of writing several letters to U.S. officials under someone else's name that threatened the lives of Trump and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, saying things like, 'I think it is time Donald J. Trump get what he has coming to him.' One letter allegedly reads, "I will self deport myself back to Mexico but not before I use my 30 yard 6 to shoot your precious president in his head. I will see him at one of his big ralleys." Another allegedly reads, 'My family is with the Mexican Mafia how would you like it if we use a bomb to blow up the white house while your precious president is still inside... Somone [sic] need to blow this entire country up like 911 in New York. Can't you white understand we are tired of running its time to kill ICE Agents or be killed.' In the complaint against Scott, prosecutors allege that he wrote the letters in order to impersonate and frame Ramón Morales Reyes, 54, who is set to testify against him in a case of armed robbery and aggravated battery in July. Scott's plan, the complaint alleges — citing multiple calls made from the Milwaukee County Jail using Scott's inmate ID number — was to get Reyes deported before he could testify against him by getting the Trump administration's attention. 'This dude is a goddamn illegal immigrant and they just need to pick his ass up,' Scott allegedly said, according to one call transcript. 'I'm dead serious, 'cause I got jury trial on July 15. I got final pretrial on June 16, so if he is apprehended by the 16th, we can go into court and say, 'Hey, he's in custody now. There is no reason for us to even continue the July 15 jury date.' And the judge will agree cause if he gets picked up by ICE, there won't be a jury trial so they will probably dismiss it that day. That's my plan.' In other calls made to his mother, Arnita Scott, the defendant allegedly tells her that he's mailed her letters in a manila envelope, and asks her to drop them in the mailbox for him. The complaint alleges that Scott's mother later confirmed to police that she had mailed letters for her son, but said she didn't know what was in them. The mailed assassination threats succeeded in catching the attention of the Trump administration, which has reportedly given ICE orders to arrest 3,000 immigrants each day. Morales Reyes was apprehended by ICE officials on May 22, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described him at the time as an 'illegal alien who threatened to assassinate President Trump.' However, the complaint explains that Milwaukee investigators quickly realized Morales Reyes does not read, write or fluently speak English. They also tested his handwriting against the threatening letters and found it to be 'completely different.' According to the complaint, Scott was then interviewed by a police detective on May 30, in which he allegedly confessed to writing the letters and said his goal was 'freedom.' Authorities also searched his jail cell and allegedly discovered the blue pen used to write the letters as well as contact information for the Wisconsin Attorney General's Office and the Milwaukee ICE office, both recipients of the forged threats. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer. Despite Scott's alleged confession, Morales Reyes remained in ICE custody and is expected to appear before an immigration judge on June 4. In an email to The Associated Press, Morales Reyes' attorney, Cain Oulahan, said he is exploring all legal avenues to get his client released. 'While he has a U visa pending, those are unfortunately backlogged for years, so we will be looking at other options to keep him here with his family, which includes his three U.S. citizen children,' Oulahan wrote. On Tuesday, June 3, the Department of Homeland Security told The Washington Post in an emailed statement, 'The investigation into the threat is ongoing. Over the course of the investigation, this individual was determined to be in the country illegally and that he had a criminal record. He will remain in custody.' The City of Milwaukee Common Council released a joint statement, written in both English and Spanish, from all 15 of its members on May 30, in which they condemned the DHS detention of Morales Reyes. 'The Department of Homeland Security's top priority should be protecting the people of this country. In this instance, they did the exact opposite,' the statement read. 'Their quick-triggered incorrect statement caused a man and his family to receive death threats and for him to be detained for something he did not do, while further fueling the anti-immigrant sentiment being pushed at the national level. All things that undermine what should be the department's chief priority of promoting public safety.' Read the original article on People
