While under tow in the Guayas River, near Guayaquil, Ecuador, the 250′ long Brazilian sail training ship Cisne Branco was carried sideways in the current into a pedestrian bridge that connects Guayaquil to Santay Island. The sailing ship damaged its rigging, resulting in the dismasting of the fore t’gallast mast in the allision.
An Ecuadoran naval tug sent to assist the Cisne Branco was subsequently caught sideways in the river current and capsized. Fortunately, the tug crew was reported to be rescued without injury. Likewise, no injuries were reported on the sail training ship or the other tug involved in the accident.
A statement by the Brazilian Navy says that the “Cisne Branco is safely anchored, pending the availability of a dock for mooring in Guayaquil, where the material conditions will be assessed in more detail.”
This was not the first accident involving the pedestrian bridge. According to El Universo, at least three accidents with boats have been registered on that bridge since 2017, the first one ended with the collapse of a 145-meter span. Likewise, there was another incident on the bridge in mid-2018.
The Cisne Branco, meaning White Swan in Portuguese, was built in 1998 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the discovery of Brazil, and, according to the Navy, its mission is “to represent Brazil in national and international nautical events, spread the maritime mentality and preserve naval traditions”. It is considered to be one of the most beautiful, well-equipped, and well-maintained ships in the Navy. Its sister ship is Stad Amsterdam.
should have radiod ahead “open the bridge urgent”
just another episode in a litany of poor seamanship no more to be said.
The bridge was opened for the tall ship. Unfortunately the tugs appear to have released her prior to the spot scene further beyond
Hi Rich. Thanks for this article, however I would not necessarily subscribe to the theory that the Cisne Branco was being towed. The most likely scenario is that the training Brazilian ship was about to cross the pedestrian drawbridge, but had sudden engine failure. The small tugboat was there to assist provided the engine of the Cisne Branco was in full working condition, which apparently it wasn’t the case. The following video shows the ship coming downriver towards the drawbridge opening with no signs that the propeller was working.
At one point during the incident the portside anchor was dropped but the ship was already too close to the bridge do any good.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CVLugOtIWqA/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_video_watch_again
Sorry Rick for calling you Rich. My bad 🙁
According to Guayaquil Harbour Headmaster s/v “Cisne Branco” had problems with engine during unmooring, resulting collision with another vessel – aprox. 1 hour before collision with pedestrian brigde.
After this first collision she dropped an anchor, about 1/2h kater reported to solve problems and resumed voyage towards open brigde. Then she lost engine controll again…
https://today.in-24.com/News/478743.html
“Danilo Espinoza, captain of the Port of Guayaquil, explained that the Brazilian Navy ship had planned to set sail from Guayaquil at 12:30 on Monday 18 to Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, and it was planned to pass through the bascule bridge at 13:00.
However, he said, at the time of sailing the sailboat had several problems. He indicated that there was supposedly a failure in the control of the machines and he had a first accident with a boat that was docked a few meters away.
“After this incident, the sailboat anchored but its anchor grabbed, heading towards the pedestrian bridge with Santay Island. In this, they managed to control the maneuver; It is presumed that the failure in the machine control was overcome. They restarted the maneuver and, before going through the pedestrian bridge, they had another failure and collided with the bridge, ”said Espinoza.”
Thanks to all for the updates and clarifications.
I bet the flags officer was confused “Skipper, do you want code D or F or Y?”