Second victim killed in Brooklyn Bridge ship crash named and pictured

Adal Jair Marcos was killed when the Cuauhtémoc crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge (Picture: Getty)

Adal Jair Marcos has now been named as one of two people killed when the Cuauhtémoc lost power before hitting the bridge on Saturday evening.

América Yamilet Sánchez, a 20-year-old navy cadet, was standing on top of Cuauhtémoc ship’s masts when the ship crashed.

Adal, another Mexican navy cadet whose age has not been disclosed, was also standing on the masts of the ship at the time of the crash.

Just hours before the crash, América, from Xalapa in Mexico, was pictured enjoying a night out in New York City.

She posted a photograph of herself online hours before she died, writing the letters ‘NY’ with a heart emoji on the post.

The Mexican Navy say 172 cadets and seven officers who were among the 277 crew members on board have since been reunited with their families at the port of Veracruz in eastern Mexico.

Two other cadets are still in hospital in New York.

Rocío Hernández, América’s mother, called her ‘the best daughter’ and told local media they had last spoken on a video call four hours before her death.

She said: ‘Her dream was to become a naval engineer.

‘She saw all the opportunities the navy offered and was so excited when she got in.

‘She had been studying for three years, only had one year left. She was loving, kind and tender.’

América Yamilet Sánchez was also killed in the ship crash (Picture: Facebook)

Meanwhile, Adal, who was from Oaxaca, had been on board the Cuauhtémoc for nine months and was described as an ‘avid traveller’.

Dozens of onlookers filmed the moment the sailing ship, which was about to leave for a goodwill tour to Iceland, instead collided with New York landmark.

Too tall to pass underneath, the Cuauhtemoc’s masts scraped the underside of the bridge and broke, injuring crew members and leaving some dangling from harnesses high in the air waiting for help.

The cause of the collision near the Brooklyn side of the East River is under investigation, but city officials said there had been ‘some sort of mechanical issue’.

More than a dozen people were injured in the incident.

Cuauhtémoc has been moored in lower Manhattan since all of its masts snapped (Picture: Getty Images)

The ship, travelling from Acapulco, Mexico, was carrying 277 people on the Bicentennial of the Consolidation of Independence at Sea tour before setting sail to Iceland.

The 142-year-old bridge was spared major damage.

Videos showed heavy traffic on the span at the time of the collision.

The vessel, which was flying a giant green, white and red Mexican flag and had 277 people aboard, then drifted towards the piers lining the riverbank as onlookers scrambled away.

The Mexican Navy tall ship floats between the Brooklyn and the Manhattan bridges on the East River (Picture: Getty)

Sailors could be seen aloft in the rigging on the damaged masts, but no one fell into the water, officials said.

A senior official with knowledge of the investigation told CNN: ‘It was the current that took it under the bridge, it wasn’t supposed to be headed in that direction.

‘They had some sort of mechanical issue, they lost power so without being able to use the rudder, they could not steer.’

Police officers stand watch on Pier 35 where Cuauhtemoc has been docked since the crash (Picture: AP /Yuki Iwamura)

However the official also cautioned that their information is preliminary and could change as the investigation continues.

Witnesses Sydney Neidell and Lily Katz said they were sitting outside to watch the sunset when they saw the vessel strike the bridge.

‘We saw someone dangling, and I couldn’t tell if it was just blurry or my eyes, and we were able to zoom in on our phone and there was someone dangling from the harness from the top for like at least like 15 minutes before they were able to rescue them,’ Ms Katz said.

Just before the collision, Nick Corso, 23, took his phone out to capture the backdrop of the ship and the bridge against a sunset, Instead, he heard what sounded like the loud snapping of a ‘big twig’. Several more snaps followed.

People in his vicinity began running back, and ‘pandemonium’ on the boat erupted, he said. He later saw a handful of people dangling from the mast.

‘I didn’t know what to think, I was like, is this a movie?’ he said.

In a post on X, the Mexican navy said the Cuauhtemoc was an academy training vessel. It said a total of 22 people were injured, 19 of whom needed medical treatment.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum mourned the loss of the two crew members: ‘Our solidarity and support go out to their families.’