The first investigations suggest that the Arm Cuauhtémoc training ship would have run out of energy before collision.
The victims were identified by the Mexican authorities such as Cadet América Yamilet Sánchez, 20, and the sailor Adal Jair Maldonado Marcos, 23.
There were two of the 277 crew aboard the sailboat of the Mexican Navy, whose three masts collapsed when impacting the bridge.
According to the Mexican media, Sánchez was one of the cadets that was high at the masts at the time of the accident.
Three of the ship’s crew were seriously injured.
The Navy commander, Admiral Pedro Raymundo Morales, said that all crew members who are in a position to travel will be transferred back to Mexico.
It is also planned that the body of America Sánchez will be transferred to the Naval Academy in its native state in Veracruz next Monday.
It is not yet known how the ship hit the bridge, which did not suffer damage to the clash, according to the authorities.
The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, lamented the accident and requested solidarity with the victims.
“It was an accident, there are two deceased people and what we have to do is solidarity and wait a bit to see what the causes were,” he said in statements to the press.
The Mexican president added that Mexican and American officials are working closely in the investigation.
“I was a soldier who didn’t give up”
The mother of America Sánchez, Rocío Hernández, described the cadet as “an exemplary daughter” and “a student delivered” who aspired to be a naval engineer.
Standing in front of an improvised altar adorned with flowers and photos of America dressed for his quinceañera party, Hernández paid tribute to his daughter.
“She was a warrior, a soldier who didn’t give up, who always fought for her goals,” he said, adding that her daughter was only one year to graduate.
“They will do a private ceremony at the Naval School of Veracruz and then I will bring her home,” said Hernández, thanking all family, friends and teachers of his daughter, whom he asked “to remember her with love.”
“The sea saw him born and witnessed his death”
In San Mateo del Mar, a coastal town of the state of Oaxaca, in southern Mexico, friends and family of Adal Jair Maldonado Marcos have also been presenting their respects after the young cadet was identified as the second fatal victim of the accident.
His friends told local media that the 23 -year -old had always dreamed of following his father’s footsteps and becoming a sailor.
They recalled that his greatest desire was always to be aboard the Cuauhtémoc, also known as “Knight of the Seas.”
“The sea saw him born and the sea witnessed his death,” a friend told the media, adding that “all of us who knew him will remember him as an intelligent young man.”
Doubts
Research on how the accident was still ongoing and the authorities have published few details.
The New York Police said there are indications that the Cuauhtémoc would have lost power when he left the port of New York and was dragged into the Brooklyn bridge by the current.
Its three masts, more than 48 meters high, hit the base of the bridge, which, according to the New York Transport Department website – has a free height of 41.1 meters.
The three masts collapsed. In a video taken by a passerby, some members of the crew hanging from the masts and candles.
For experts, one of the first doubts that arose when the news was known was why the boat was in the wrong direction.
The Cuauhtémoc ship was heading to Iceland. It was planned to make a rapid stop to resume fuel in Brooklyn, New York, and then continue to its destination.
After evaluating the videos, some experts believe that the northeast and current winds could be among the causes of the accident.
Another doubt that leaves the clash is what happened to the tugboat that should have escorted the ship.
The United States Coast Guard demands that foreign vessels such as Cuauhtémoc have a tug -in tugboat and can attend any incident.
But the New York senator, Charles Schumer, said that the Cuauhtémoc “did not use the assistance of a tugboat” and that the tugboat that is seen in widely disseminated videos on social networks was “responding after the fact, not helping before.”
The Secretary of the Marina-Armada of Mexico, Raymundo Pedro Morales Ángeles, said in a statement that the results of any investigation will be followed with “total transparency and responsibility.”
Cuauhtémoc travels the world as a “ship of good will” to share Mexican culture.
