Mexico mourns two navy cadets killed when ship crashed into Brooklyn Bridge
Mexico is grieving two cadets in the country's navy that were killed Saturday when the tall training ship Cuauhtémoc crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge.
América Sánchez, 20, and Adal Jair Maldonado Marcos, 23, died in the wreck that injured 22 other crew members, including three critically.
The body of Sánchez was scheduled to be transferred Monday to the naval academy in her home state of Veracruz. She was in her final year as a navy cadet and was part of the international training cruise scheduled to visit 15 countries.
Sánchez's mother, Rocío Hernández, said her daughter was 'exemplary' and 'a dedicated student' who dreamed of becoming a naval engineer.
'She was a warrior, a soldier who didn't give up, who always fought for her goals,' Hernández said of her daughter, according to the BBC. She said that Mexico's navy will hold a private ceremony for her at the naval academy before she brings her home.
Meanwhile, friends and relatives of Maldonado have reportedly been paying their respects in San Mateo del Mar, a coastal town in the state of Oaxaca. His friends told local media he had dreamt of following in his father's footsteps in becoming a sailor.
An investigation into Saturday's crash remains ongoing. It could take a year.
Commercial water traffic in the vicinity of the wreck remained suspended on Monday.
According to New York police, the Cuauhtémoc – which had 277 people on board – lost power as it was departing New York Harbor for Iceland and was dragged toward the Brooklyn Bridge by the current. Its three masts measuring more than 157ft (48m) collided with the base of the bridge, whose clearance is around 41m (134.5ft).
The ship reportedly had a local harbor pilot – familiar with the conditions of the water there – and an area docking pilot helping guide the ship. At least one was on board at the time of the crash.
Bystanders captured the moments the ship collided with the bridge, which collapsed all three of the ship's masts.
The ship left Acapulco, Mexico, on 6 April and was scheduled to stop in Aberdeen, Scotland, in July amid a global goodwill tour. The National Transportation Safety Board was scheduled to hold a news conference to provide updates on the investigation on Monday afternoon.
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NBC News
2 days ago
- NBC News
After a jet crashed into their neighborhood, some survivors say their emotional recovery is stunted by living so close to a busy airport. Ariana Drehsler for NBC News; AP U.S. news A jet crashed into their neighborhood. Now they live in dread below an active flight path. 'We hold our breath now every time a plane goes over,' said Srujana McCarty, who was sleeping when the private jet hit her family's San Diego home.
June 8, 2025, 7:00 AM EDT By Melissa Chan Srujana McCarty shields her head with her hands when an aircraft flies overhead. It's an involuntary reaction now, much like how her neighbors Aislyn Maupin and Renee Rivera freeze up and fixate on passing planes and jets until they're out of sight. They know it's improbable for an aircraft to plummet from the sky above them. But one did two weeks ago as they slept. On May 22, a pilot attempting to land a private jet at an airport nearby struck power lines and crashed into their San Diego military housing neighborhood, killing all six passengers on board, officials said. While the lives on the ground were spared, the disaster displaced dozens of families and shattered their sense of safety. McCarty's and Rivera's children still see the phantom flames down their hallways and streets. 'It's a new fear unlocked,' McCarty said. The survivors are trying to recover. But they live below an active flight path about 2 miles from the airport. About every 30 minutes, an aircraft roars above and brings them back to the morning fire roused them out of bed. 'It terrifies me knowing that we have planes coming over here all day, all the time,' Rivera said. 'It's a lot to be reminded of every single day.' 'Everything on fire all at once' On the night of the crash, before McCarty and her husband, Ben, went to sleep, they tucked in their two young sons, put their dogs in crates, locked their doors and set the alarm. 'Everything was set up for their safety,' said Ben McCarty, 33, who has served in the Navy for 13 years. Stillness fell over Murphy Canyon, home to more than 4,900 Navy families in one of the largest military housing complexes in the world. Then, just before 4 a.m., a Cessna 550 Citation jet slammed into the front yard of the McCartys' home, partially collapsing their roof and thrusting one of their trucks into the living room. Waves of heat from the fire instantly penetrated their bedroom, jolting them awake. 'The impact rushed over me,' Ben McCarty said. 'I felt like this strong wind or force, the heat.' Srujana McCarty, 32, let out a nightmarish shriek. But outside, the deafening booms from exploding cars and the panicked voices of other neighbors screaming to find their children drowned her out. The couple grabbed their sons, ages 2 and 4, and their dogs. The path to the front door was blocked by fire. The wall where their wedding photos hung was crumbling and burning, so the family fled out the back. Next door, Maupin was in a deep sleep when her 14-year-old daughter barged into her bedroom, screaming about a fire outside of her open window. In disbelief, Maupin looked outside and found a hellscape. 'The whole street was just in flames,' she said. Jet fuel snaked down the street, setting every vehicle in its path ablaze, law enforcement officials said. 'Everything on fire all at once,' San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl told reporters. 'It was pretty horrific to see.' Maupin said people were knocking on doors, telling people their homes were on fire. 'People were pushing us and telling us we had to go this way,' she said. Maupin and her daughter helped their neighbors evacuate, each taking a baby to safeguard. Maupin remembers seeing a young woman, standing alone in the middle of the street, paralyzed in fear. 'People were screaming, 'Where are my kids?'' she said. 'Things are exploding everywhere.' Nearby, Rivera heard banging on her front door. She had seen the light from the explosion but thought it must have been lightning. 'I never in a million years thought a plane hit the ground,' she said. Half asleep, Rivera, 28, herded her 2-year-old asthmatic daughter, grandmother, two dogs and two guinea pigs into a car. As she drove away, she thought of all the children in the neighborhood. Her heart sank, thinking there was no way everyone in the neighborhood would survive. But miraculously no one on the ground was killed. 'Seeing it happen firsthand right in front of you,' she said, 'it changes everything.' McCarty replays each moment of her family's escape when she suddenly wakes up every morning around 3:45 a.m. at roughly the time of the crash. The sleepless nights are hard, but so are the days when planes seem to be constantly flying overhead. 'We hold our breath now every time a plane goes over,' she said. The McCartys are staying in a temporary house in the same military housing community until they're able to move into a new unit in about a week. They had only one plea for those tasked with their relocation. 'We asked to get out of the flight path,' Ben McCarty said. 'It was the No. 1 priority for both of us — anywhere away from the flight path.' Their neighbor, Thomas Lawrence, said his three young children had the same request. 'We had to change streets because they didn't want to live close to the scene of the crash anymore,' he said. 'It was unanimous. Even I didn't want to go back either.' Life under a flight path The Navy families live in the shadow of Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport, which primarily serves small aircraft and is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, according to its website. The airport sees more than 386,000 takeoffs and landings a year. The six passengers aboard the private jet were headed there from New Jersey, the National Transportation Safety Board said. Their cross-country flight was about 2 miles southeast of the airfield when, amid dense fog, the jet struck high-tension power lines and went down around 3:47 a.m., officials said. There were no survivors aboard. Music talent agent Dave Shapiro, 42, was killed, as were two employees of his Sound Talent Group, Kendall Fortner, 24, and Emma Huke, 25, according to the city's medical examiner's office. The crash also killed Daniel Williams, 39, a drummer for the band The Devil Wears Prada; Dominic Damian, 41, a software engineer; and Celina Kenyon, 36, a photographer. The cause of the crash is under investigation. A spokesperson for the NTSB said the agency expects to release its preliminary report in the next few weeks. In the immediate aftermath, it displaced about 100 residents, Wahl, the police chief, said. About 39 families were temporarily relocated, and two homes were significantly damaged, according to Gail Miller, chief operating officer of Liberty Military Housing, which provides homes for the families. Miller said the housing provider worked closely with the families to determine their preferences, recognizing that many would not want to return to their original units. Today, Miller said, 31 families have either returned to their original home in Murphy Canyon or have accepted a new home in the same community or elsewhere. The crash was the latest in a string of deadly aviation accidents this year that has sparked fear and unease. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has said the skies are safe, pointing to 35 million annual flights that occur in the U.S. with very few incidents. An NBC News analysis of federal data also shows that incidents and deaths on flights have not been rising compared with previous years, and that the number of deaths aboard aircraft in the U.S. is also on the decline. Still, for survivors triggered by the sight of an aircraft, the statistics do little to ease anxieties. In the aftermath of some cases of aviation trauma, constant exposure to planes and jets can be helpful in overcoming fears, but for others, the overexposure can prevent recovery, said Jessica Auslander, a North Carolina-based psychologist with the Centre for Aviation Psychology. 'The brain becomes hypervigilant for any other future signs of danger, to protect ourselves,' she said. 'It has basically learned, hey, this is possible. How can we keep ourselves safe?' Symptoms are most intense in the first few weeks after the incident but generally ease within one to three months, Auslander said. To help get the families back on their feet, the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society said it has provided more than $80,000 in emergency assistance to more than 80 families affected by the crash. The funds have gone toward insurance deductibles, uniform replacement, temporary housing costs, food and household essentials, said retired Navy Rear Adm. Dawn Cutler, the nonprofit's chief operations officer. 'It's going to be a road to recovery,' Cutler said. For the families beginning to settle into their new homes, the emotional healing comes next. Maupin grew up in the area by the airport, desensitized to planes. Now, when one passes, she says, 'everything stops and I just dissociate.' 'It's hard to conceptualize knowing you were so close to no longer being here anymore,' she said. Rivera closes her eyes when she has to drive by the scene of the crash to leave the area. But her 2-year-old daughter stares directly at it. 'She says there's fire, there's fire everywhere,' Rivera said, adding that her daughter will begin seeing a therapist. The McCartys, too, said they plan to seek counseling. 'We've somehow shut down and went numb just so we can move on,' Srujana McCarty said. Her husband said the crash has left him feeling helpless. When they were looking for their replacement home, he said, his family's protection was the only thing that mattered. 'We didn't look if the kitchen was big,' he said. 'We looked in the backyard and said, where is the escape route?' Melissa Chan Melissa Chan is a reporter for NBC News Digital with a focus on veterans' issues, mental health in the military and gun violence.
The Herald Scotland
3 days ago
- The Herald Scotland
Remembering D-Day: Veteran, 100, offers first-hand account of D-Day
Tolley Fletcher, at the time a 19-year-old Navy gunner's mate, remembered the rough seas and the treacherous landing troops at Utah Beach had to make in 3- to 4-foot waves, each carrying about 60 pounds of gear on their backs and descending on rope ladders from larger ships onto smaller landing crafts. "I felt for those soldiers," Fletcher, now 100 years old, told USA TODAY. "In my mind, that was the worst part, other than people getting hurt." Fletcher, who joined the Navy at 17 in late December 1941, said he and his shipmates were fortunate to be mostly out of the line of fire. "There was some shelling, not really a lot, and luckily we didn't get hit. "Maybe halfway in, we started seeing lots of bodies in the water," said Fletcher, who now lives in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, area. "I was asked (later) what we did about it. We didn't do anything about it - we had a job: to escort those troops to the beach." On D-Day, "that's what these guys faced," said Peter Donovan Crean Sr., vice president for education and access at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. "They knew they were in the presence of history. Soldiers, sailors, Marines - they knew what they were doing was going to go down in history, which also meant they knew the danger involved. "Guys who were 18, 19, 20 years old were faced with the possibility of their death, but they did it anyway." As we mark the 81st anniversary of D-Day, here is a look at what happened on the beaches of Normandy, the men who fought knowing they might not survive to see victory and the way it affected the Allies' fight to defeat fascism, genocide and tyranny. What happened on D-Day? In order to defeat the Nazis in Europe, the Allies knew they'd have to take France, under German occupation since 1940. Operation Overlord saw a mobilization of 2,876,000 Allied troops in Southern England, as well as hundreds of ships and airplanes, in preparation for a ground invasion, the largest the world had seen. Weighing conditions including the weather, disagreements among other military leaders and strategic uncertainty, Eisenhower gave the go-ahead for the operation to begin before dawn on June 5, 1944. If things didn't go well for the Allies, Eisenhower wrote a note accepting responsibility. The following day, nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed along the 50-mile stretch of French shoreline. More than 9,000 Allied troops were killed or wounded, and 100,000 troops would continue the slow, bloody journey to Berlin, the center of German power. Why was it called D-Day? According to the U.S. Army, D-Day was "simply an alliteration, as in H-Hour." Some believe the first "D" also stands for "day," a code designation, while the French say the "D" stands for "disembarkation." The Army's website says that "the more poetic insist D-Day is short for 'day of decision.'" Asked in 1964, Eisenhower instructed his assistant Brig. Gen. Robert Schultz, to answer. Schultz wrote that "any amphibious operation has a 'departed date'; therefore the shortened term 'D-Day' is used." What happened after D-Day? D-Day was not the only decisive battle of the European theater, Crean said. "It was a crucial battle but there were more ahead," he said. "They had 700 miles of tough road ahead to get to Berlin." The Battle of the Bulge, waged over 41 days in December 1944 and January 1945, required 700,000 Allied troops. "It was a tough slog for another 11 months," Crean said. Victory in Europe - V-E Day - would come on May 8, 1945, nearly a year after D-Day. The war wouldn't end until the Japanese surrendered on Sept. 2, 1945. How many World War II veterans remain in the U.S.? There are about 66,000 surviving World War II veterans in the United States, Crean said, and while that may sound like a lot, it's a tiny fraction of the 16.4 million who served their country in the conflict. "So to be able to talk to and thank one veteran now is a gift for any of us," Crean said. The National World War II Museum's mission "is more critical than ever ... so more people will understand what they did and continue to be inspired by their sacrifices," added Crean, a retired colonel with 30 years' service in the Army. The museum has had oral historians travel the country to record more than 12,000 personal stories from World War II veterans. They've conducted extensive interviews with veterans, Holocaust survivors and homefront workers and, using artificial intelligence, created a way for visitors to have "conversations" with them and ask questions to learn about the war effort. And they offer virtual programming, teacher training and a student leadership award. Fletcher, the Navy gunner's mate, said he's uncomfortable with the idea of being considered a hero. Asked about his role in history, he said, "I really didn't think about it then, and I don't think about it now, though it's been impressed upon me quite a bit. "When I think about what I went through, and what all the Army and the other men who were mixed up in really tough situations, it makes me feel a little bit guilty."
The Sun
4 days ago
- The Sun
Terrifying moment bouncy castle takes off in freak wind flying 40ft into air sending children plunging back to earth
THIS is the shocking moment a freak wind sent a bouncy castle soaring 40 feet up into the air, injuring two children. It unfolded at a fundraising day at a school in South Africa, where an unexpected gust flicked the castle into the sky. 5 5 5 Brief footage of the incident shows the large bouncy castle taking off as stunned onlookers scream in horror. Instead of dropping back down to earth, the inflatable continues to spiral upwards over Laerskool Protearif primary at Krugersdorp. But the most heart-stopping moment comes when two kids fall out of the floating castle. Terrified parents scramble to break their fall as they drop from the inflatable, no longer able to cling on. While the onlookers managed to form a human crash mat, the two kids are still reported to have been seriously injured. One of the children is understood to have suffered a fractured skull, and the other a broken arm. The bouncy castle later landed around 50 feet from where it took off. It is not known if any other children were on board at the time of the incident. A statement on the school's Facebook page confirmed that two kids had been taken to hospital following the incident. The fundraising event was attended by more than 1,000 parents, pupils and friends last Saturday. The school's statement reads: "It is with great gratitude that we are happy to share the very good news with you. "The two children who sustained injuries during the fracture accident at the Protea festival on Saturday were discharged from hospital on 31/5 and 3/6 respectively. "The necessary trauma-counselling was given to both children, as well as to their co-learners, who experienced the event and thank you all for standing together. "We thank you very much for everyone's positive support, help and prayers." The school, which has 620 pupils aged 6 to 13, previously hit headlines in 2017 when a tornado blew off its roof and destroyed its buildings. An eyewitness of the bouncy castle takeoff said: "When they fell I thought they were dead. "I was watching from a food stall with my girls when I heard screaming and turned around and just saw this blue, green and red thing shooting up to the heavens. "Then there was a huge scream when first one child and then another fell out but of all the places they could have landed it was right over a group of parents below. "They reached up their arms to try to catch the falling children and undoubtedly saved their lives or saved them from much worse injuries by cushioning them. "It was not a very windy day but it seemed this huge gust just came from nowhere and it was said the bouncy castle had not been secured to the ground." It is unclear from the footage if the bouncy castle had been securely tethered ahead of the incident. Melissa Vere Russel of ABC Jumping Castles, which was not the company used, said: "In high gusts a bouncy castle can act like a parachute and the wind can carry it away. "All castles are manufactured with mechanisms to secure them to the ground and failing to anchor them properly could end in disaster and could be fatal." It comes after an Australian bouncy castle operator was found not guilty of failing to comply with safety laws after the tragic death of six children in Tasmania when strong winds blew an inflatable into the air. The horror incident happened in 2021 when a bouncy castle was blown three feet into the air and landed in a tree 160 feet away. Six children died and three others were seriously injured. But owner of operator Taz-Zorb Rosemary Gamble was cleared of breaching work safety laws after the tragedy was ruled to be "due to an unprecedented weather system that was impossible to predict and avoid". Angry parents reportedly shouted at the bouncy castle owner after the verdict. Gamble's lawyer read a statement on her behalf, saying: "I never meant for something like this to happen. And I am just so sorry that it did. "I am a mother. I can only imagine the pain that other parents are living with each and every day because of this terrible thing that happened. "Their loss is something I will carry with me for the rest of my life." 5
