The Mexican ship in a deadly crash accelerated before hit Brooklyn Bridge

A Mexican naval ship in the East River suddenly accelerated in the wrong direction before slamming its masts in the Brooklyn bridge in an accident that killed two crew members, Federal Transport officials announced on Monday.

The ship, the Cuauhtémoc, was moving at a speed of about 2.3 knots after pushing a Lower Manhattan pier on Saturday evening with the help of a tug, said Brian Young of the National Transportation Safety Board during a press conference.

The 300 -foot long ship, which had 277 people on board, maintained this rate for “a little time” before “the speed begins to increase,” said Mr. Young, the investigator conducting the Security Council investigation. Cuauhtémoc’s speed had reached six knots when it struck the bridge for less than five minutes after leaving the shore, he said.

We did not know what had caused the sudden acceleration, said Mr. Young. But he will be among the problems on which investigators will concentrate during an examination which is in the early stages and which could take up to two years.

“This is the start of a long process,” said Michael Graham, a member of the Board of Directors of the NTSB, at the press conference, noting that the agency should publish a preliminary report of its conclusions within 30 days. “We do not draw any conclusion. We will not speculate. “

Graham said that agency officials worked with their Mexican counterparts to access the ship so that the investigators can inspect the engine, the team crew members always on board and recover the data recorders that the ship could have. The damaged ship is now accosted with Pier 36 in Manhattan.