Mexican navy ship went backwards before Brooklyn Bridge crash: NTSB

You may remember when a Mexican naval ship crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge on May 17th

Now the National Transportation Safety Board has released a preliminary report giving some insight into what led to the crash and the deaths of two sailors

The Brooklyn Bridge ship crash resulted in two sailors dying with 19 others being injured

The visuals of the incident were shocking, and questions have been lingering

The NTSB is giving us our most detailed assessment to date, though key questions remain unanswered

Here's what we've learned. The ship crashed shortly after leaving its dock in New York City, destined for Iceland

A docking pilot, who is supposed to guide ships out of the harbor, boarded the vessel

ordered for the ship to start moving away from the pier, and cleared it

then gave a stop command before ordering the ship to move slowly forward

But the ship did the opposite. According to the NTSB, the ship started going backward and began to speed up in reverse

Despite more commands from the docking pilot to move forward, it continued backward until its mass slammed into the underside of the Brooklyn Bridge

At the time, Mexican sailors were standing on the mass, resulting in a deadly tragedy

According to the NTSB the sea pilot boarded shortly after 7 p The docking pilot arrived at 7 45 p Six lines that were holding the vessel were let go at 8 16 p The docking pilot gave verbal commands to the

captain who relayed commands to the crew in Spanish. The docking pilot was also directing

a tugboat, which followed the pilot's orders correctly, but the ship did not, and its speed

increased from 3.3 knots to 5.9 knots as it backed into the bridge. The preliminary report doesn't

tell us why the docking pilot's orders were not followed, or why the ship accelerated. It also

doesn't say whether there was a problem with the ship's engines, but it did reveal those responsible

for navigating the ship tested negative for drugs and alcohol. After the incident, the commander of

the Mexican Navy blamed the pilot advising the captain out of the channel, saying all the

maneuvering that the ship did from the moment it leaves the dock until it collided is under the

control of the pilot. Who decides how the maneuver is performed? The port pilot, precisely

The Mexican Navy is conducting its own investigation, but no findings have been released

The final U.S. Safety Board report could take a year or more to complete