Mexican navy sailing ship collides with Brooklyn Bridge in deadly NYC crash
A naval training ship donning a massive Mexican flag crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City on Saturday night, killing at least two people.
Videos posted to social media appear to show the mast of the ship crashing into the bridge just before 8:30 p.m., as passengers and nearby onlookers screamed, prompting an immediate search and rescue operation on the East River for the injured and overboard passengers.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said 19 people were injured in the incident, including two who died from their injuries and two who remain in critical condition.
The 150-foot-tall Mexican Navy training ship, Cuauhtémoc, appeared to have veered to the side after passing under the bridge, nearly crashing into a nearby pier before coming to a stop. A mechanical issue may have caused the ship to veer off course and collide with the bridge, officials said at a news briefing, although it remains under investigation.
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The ship struck the bottom side of the roadbed portion of the Brooklyn Bridge, officials with the New York Police Department (NYPD) told Fox News.
Flags and debris from the ship plummeted into the water below, as the vessel rocked back and forth, pushing its way under the landmark.
All 277 occupants onboard have been accounted for, according to the New York Fire Department (FDNY).
“No one fell into the water, they were all hurt inside the ship,” an NYPD official said, according to WCBS. “The ship, from what I was informed by the supervisors of the ship, it was disembarking and going to Iceland.”
The NYPD Harbor Unit responded to the scene to support rescue operations.
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The Mexican Navy, in an X post, said a “mishap occurred with the Brooklyn Bridge” during a sailing maneuver.
“During the sailing maneuver of the Cuauhtémoc sailboat in New York, a mishap occurred with the Brooklyn Bridge, causing damage to the training ship, preventing the continuation of the training cruise for the time being,” according to the post. “The status of personnel and equipment is being reviewed by naval and local authorities, who are providing support. The Navy reaffirms its commitment to personnel safety, transparency in its operations, and excellent training for future officers of the Mexican Navy.”
The Navy said no items fell into the water.
There is no major damage to the bridge, according to the NYPD.
Due to the collision investigation, the NYPD asked the public to avoid the area of the Brooklyn Bridge, South Street Seaport in Manhattan and Dumbo in Brooklyn.
“Expect heavy traffic and a large presence of emergency vehicles in the surrounding area,” NYPD officials wrote in an X post.
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New York Attorney General Letitia James took to X to send her prayers.
“I’m praying for everyone who was on this ship that crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge this evening,” James wrote in a post. “New Yorkers should follow local guidance while our first responders do their jobs.”
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The Cuauhtémoc was built in Bilbao, Spain in 1981 and has won the Tall Ships’ Races twice, according to Sail Training International. The ship is in New York City as part of a promotion for an event next year that celebrates America’s 250th birthday.
Bongino unleashes scathing takedown on Comey over controversial social media post
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino issued a sharp and public condemnation of the bureau’s former director, James Comey, Saturday, accusing Comey of disgracing the agency as authorities investigate Comey’s controversial “86 47” Instagram post.
In a statement posted to X, Bongino said Comey’s actions are another example of failed leadership that continues to haunt the agency.
“Former FBI Director James Comey brought shame to the FBI badge, yet again, this past week,” Bongino wrote. “The Director and I spend an inordinate amount of time cleaning up messes left behind by former Director Comey. And his latest actions are no exception.”
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Comey, dismissed by President Donald Trump in 2017, sparked outrage after posting a photo to social media Thursday showing seashells arranged to say “86 47,” a phrase widely understood to mean to “get rid of” the 47th president. Though Comey later deleted the post and claimed it was misunderstood, many, including Trump, say the meaning was clear.
“He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant,” Trump said Friday on Fox News. “If you’re the FBI director, and you don’t know what that meant, that meant ‘assassination,’ and it says it loud and clear.”
Comey offered a follow-up statement online, saying he “didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence” and that it “never occurred to me.”
Bongino strongly rejected that explanation, describing it as part of a larger pattern of misconduct. In his post, Bongino wrote:
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“As the Deputy Director of the FBI, I am charged, standing with Director Patel, with managing the most powerful law enforcement agency in the world. The Director and I are also responsible for looking at grave mistakes made by people within the FBI in the past, and ensuring they never happen again.”
He stressed the FBI’s continuing commitment to supporting federal law enforcement partners investigating any threats involving public officials, past or present.
“While the FBI does not have primary investigative responsibility for investigating threats against the POTUS, and we do not make prosecutorial decisions, we do have the ability and authority to support other federal agencies for violations of federal law,” Bongino said.
“And we certainly have a responsibility to comment on matters involving former FBI officials, and allegations of law-breaking.”
The U.S. Secret Service has already interviewed Comey about the incident. FBI Director Kash Patel said in a separate statement that the bureau is “in communication with the Secret Service and Director Curran.”
Bongino noted that this latest controversy is part of a general legacy of dysfunction inherited from Comey’s leadership, which he and Patel are working to fix from the inside out.
“As I’ve stated in the past, I cannot post openly about all the things the Director and I are doing to reform the enterprise, but I assure you, they are happening,” Bongino wrote. “Sadly, many of those agenda items are the result of former Director Comey’s poor decision-making and atrocious leadership.
“And to those who doubt me, I assure you, when you see what the Director and I see from the inside, it’s even worse.”
Bongino said he chose to post his statement now because his scheduled interview with FOX Business anchor Maria Bartiromo, which will air Sunday on Sunday Morning Futures was recorded earlier in the week, before the Comey post was made public.
“I’m addressing this now, rather than on our interview with Maria Bartiromo [Sunday], because we recorded that interview earlier in the week prior to the incident with Comey,” he explained.
He closed with a message to the country that echoed his support for the law enforcement community and the reforms underway at the FBI.
“God bless America, and all those who defend Her,” he said.
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Bongino, a former NYPD officer and longtime Secret Service agent, was appointed deputy director of the FBI earlier this year.
His leadership under Director Kash Patel reflects a broader effort by the Trump administration to restore accountability and integrity to the FBI after years of what many see as politically motivated misconduct.
The FBI did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for further comment.
Trump-aligned group takes aim at Carter-era civil service hiring policy in federal court
FIRST ON FOX — A legal group closely aligned with President Donald Trump is joining a federal court battle in Washington, D.C., to overturn a Carter-era consent decree that bars the government from using merit-based hiring, a resolution that, if overturned, would dissolve one of the most influential civil service decisions of the last 40 years.
The America First Legal Foundation (AFL), a group aligned with Trump, has filed a federal complaint in Washington, D.C., that aims to dismantle what it calls a dated and illegal effort to promote diversity in federal hiring that sidelines more qualified candidates.
“America is missing out on top talent because of an illegal, 44-year-old consent decree,” Nick Barry, senior counsel at AFL, told Fox News Digital. “We must move back to merit-based evaluations. Race and other immutable traits have no place in that process.”
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The lawsuit targets the Luevano consent decree, an agreement that Black and Hispanic plaintiffs struck with the government under President Jimmy Carter in 1981. The settlement ended merit-based hiring practices for federal government agencies and required written tests to be replaced with alternative assessments.
Critics of these alternative assessments, including AFL and the firm Boyden Gray, PLLC, which joined the complaint, argue they are clunky and outdated solutions that illegally promote an unfair system of race-based hiring.
“We must move back to merit-based evaluations,” Barry added. “Race, color and other immutable characteristics have no place in that evaluation.”
The Office of Personnel Management had previously asked the court to end the Carter-era system, an effort that AFL and Boyden Gray now join, arguing it violates Supreme Court precedent.
“Being able to recruit the best and brightest to work in Washington returns dividends for the country by doing more with less,” AFL Vice President Dan Epstein told Fox News Digital. “That is what all Americans deserve from their government.”
AFL’s backing could bring new momentum to OPM’s attempt to end these hiring practices in the federal government. But it’s also likely to be met with a fair degree of criticism.
Though efforts to end or replace the 40-year-old alternative assessment systems aren’t exactly radical, the filing comes as the Trump administration continues to clash with government employees over agency budget cuts and workforce reductions.
The case, if heard in court, could reignite debate across the country over race-conscious hiring practices.
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America First Legal, though not officially part of the Trump administration, was founded by longtime Trump advisor Stephen Miller, one of Trump’s most vocal advocates for tougher immigration enforcement, dismantling DEI programs and ending affirmative action in public education. Miller stepped down from AFL before rejoining the White House in 2025.
The effort also comes at a time when many federal agencies have struggled to cope with a massive loss of personnel and institutional knowledge due to funding cuts and other orders from DOGE, the quasi-government efficiency agency headed up by billionaire Elon Musk.
Still, AFL sees its effort as supporting OPM and ending what it argues is a virtually “impossible” standard to create a broadly used merit-based civil service exam.
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“Public service is a public trust,” Epstein said. “Presidential administrations from both parties have long advocated ending unaccountable bureaucracies that fail to do a good turn for the American people.”
Neither OPM nor the White House immediately responded to Fox News’s request for comment on the new court filing or on their views on the existing hiring practices.
Daughter of notorious cannibal reveals chilling encounter with father
For the first time in four years, Jamie-Lee Arrow was ready to sit face-to-face with her father, the “Skara Cannibal.”
It was October 2024, and the 23-year-old, now a mother to two young children, was hoping to be reunited with the man she knew and loved.
“I had no idea how he would react,” Arrow told Fox News Digital. “And I didn’t know how I would react. I couldn’t even imagine what it would feel like. But when I first saw him, it was like we had always been together. And when he started to cry and show so much emotion, it felt really nice. It felt he had changed. I thought he changed.”
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One of Sweden’s most shocking murders is being explored on Investigation Discovery’s true crime series, “Evil Lives Here: The Killer Speaks.” The two-hour special, now available for streaming, features intimate interviews with Arrow, as well as her father, Isakin Jonsson.
In 2010, Jonsson, 46, brutally killed his girlfriend, Helle Christensen, 40, in his Skara, Sweden, home. According to the episode, he slit Christensen’s throat, decapitated her and then ate parts of her remains. Arrow was nine at the time.
“I accidentally saw the newspapers,” she recalled. “I didn’t know what the word ‘cannibal’ meant. But, when I was 13, I read some articles, and then I understood what the word meant. But by then, my dad had me wrapped around his finger. He made himself the good person, and his girlfriend was the villain. He brainwashed me to believe that.”
As a child, Arrow lived in two worlds. She described her mother’s home as “loving and normal.” But when it came time to visit her dad, she experienced “the dark side.” There was no light in his home, she recalled. He kept himself busy watching violent horror films and making macabre voodoo dolls. She was warned by Jonsson not to tell her mother.
“It was like demons and the devil were our reality,” she said. “… That was so normal to me. But I also kept all of that inside of me.”
On some days, Jonsson was “the perfect dad” who was doting and loving. But his mood swings were like whiplash, and, without warning, he could be cold and distant. He would sometimes send a confused Arrow back home when “he couldn’t deal with me.”
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At nine years old, Arrow met Christensen, her father’s new girlfriend. Arrow was smitten by the mother of five’s warm demeanor and flaming red hair. She considered her a “second mom.”
“My impression was that she really loved him,” Arrow explained. “But I was never under the impression that my dad loved her. I knew she . . . was begging for him to love her back. But at the same time . . . she could provoke him. They could have a really good time. They could laugh together, watch films together. But it was like a rollercoaster all the time.”
The episode described how Christensen and Jonsson frequently fought violently. Arrow witnessed their brawls and would worry that something bad might happen.
“[My father] lost touch with reality,” said Arrow. “I felt like I was losing my dad more and more. The happy times became rarer.”
Arrow still vividly remembers the last time she saw Christensen. She called it “the worst weekend of my life.”
“She cooked some food for us,” said Arrow. “As she served it, she went, like, ‘Enjoy your meal because this is the last thing you’ll ever eat from me, because your dad is going to kill me.’ That’s one of the last things I ever heard her say.”
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Soon after, Christensen was gone.
Arrow’s mother tried to shield her daughter from the news of the murder. Arrow said she went into a state of shock when she found out from the press that her beloved “stepmom” had been killed by her father.
“I cried my eyes out,” she said. “… I went into denial very quickly. The next day, I was cold. I was cold as ice. I couldn’t feel anything…. I was just numb. And it was scary, because I didn’t recognize myself. I think I went into denial to protect myself.”
In 2011, Jonsson was convicted of Christensen’s murder. The court placed him in a psychiatric hospital. Over the years, Arrow spiraled into depression and anxiety, leading to a crippling drug addiction.
During that time, she stayed in touch with her father. When she opened up to him about being teased at school, he suggested using voodoo dolls to punish her bullies, the episode revealed.
Arrow later confided in her father that she was suffering from depression and was contemplating taking her own life. He made her perform a ritual where she would have to sell her soul to the devil, she said.
He also opened up about the murder.
“When I was 18, he asked me, ‘Jamie, do you want me to walk you through how I committed the murder?’” said Arrow.
“It’s such a twisted thing to say. [But] he walked me through it. I was so surprised, because he showed no remorse. He almost said it with passion. And I was sitting there wanting to throw up. He almost had a smirk on his face. Then it all became so real, like, ‘Oh, my God. He really did this.’ That’s the first time I truly felt in my body that my dad was not well. This man is sick.”
“… His eyes had turned black,” said Arrow. “He reminded me of what it used to be like when I was a child. That scared me, because he talked to me in the same way as he used to talk to his girlfriend that he murdered. That made me feel like I was no different from her.”
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At 19, Arrow decided to stop visiting her father. As time passed, she wondered whether he had changed for the better. That’s when she decided to see him again.
The series captured the pair’s unsettling reunion. During their emotional sit-down, Jonsson claimed that he had killed Christensen because he would then get psychiatric help for his deteriorating mental health. He also claimed that Christensen had had a death wish.
“I used to believe that so hard,” Arrow admitted. “I didn’t question it at all. I do believe there are some truths in that, but I do also believe that he always liked watching . . . really twisted films. I do believe he had some sick fantasies. I believe he saw the murder as his chance to live out those fantasies.”
Still, Arrow doesn’t think of Jonsson as “evil.”
“I think of him as a very broken, sick person,” she said. “The thing he did was evil. That was an evil thing to do. And there is nothing that makes up for that. There is no excuse for that. It was completely and utterly evil. But I see him as my dad, my very broken and sick dad.”
“I know he had a very difficult childhood, a lot worse than mine,” she continued. “I feel sorry for the little child that is my dad, because no one knows what would’ve happened if he had gotten a better start in life.”
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According to the series, Jonsson has been released from the hospital, but remains under its supervision. Arrow, having closure, now mourns him “like he is dead,” People magazine reported. The episode shared that she has no desire to have Jonsson be a part of her children’s lives.
“Becoming a mother made me look at everything differently,” she reflected. “I can look at the little Jamie from a parent’s perspective. That made me realize so much about my childhood. I used to think that some events happened in my childhood because of me, because it was my fault. But becoming a mother made me realize that none of it was my fault.”
“Sometimes I just want to go back in time and hug myself,” she said. “… My goal with sharing my story has always been to make people realize and believe that anyone can make it, no matter where they come from, no matter how broken they are. If you suffer from PTSD, if you suffer from trauma or addiction – I believe that everyone on this Earth can get out of any darkness.”