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All survive after riverboat capsizes from tanker collision in New Orleans

A tanker in New Orleans that apparently lost its steering slammed into a docked river cruise boat with 180 people aboard Friday, the mayor said. All aboard survived after the crash prompted a massive rescue operation for passengers and crew who plunged into the Mississippi River as the ship took on water and began to topple over.

Video from the scene showed the much larger Atlantic Asphalt tanker hit the cruise boat while it was docked as metal and glass crashed and crunched.

Tugboat operators, nearby workers, police and other rescuers rushed to help.

“We have zero people unaccounted for, which truly is a miracle on the Mississippi,” New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno said at a news conference as rescuers and others cheered.

The mayor said 32 people were taken to the hospital, but none of them had critical injuries.

The boat started listing within minutes and flipped while emergency workers were still trying to get everyone off the ship.

More than a dozen people in lifejackets were dragged from the 66-degree river onto nearby ships. 

Devon Flanagan was at his job nearby at the Port of New Orleans when workers began rushing down the dock. He got out of his truck and noticed the American Heritage on its side and passengers in the water.

“It was just chaos,” he said. “You had all types of ships, like other barges and other companies down there trying to help out, which also was a little convoluted because you had people still in the water.”

The cruise ship was built in 2015 and operated by American Cruise Lines. It is five stories and can hold up to 150 passengers.

The American Heritage was finishing an eight-day cruise to several Mississippi River destinations in Louisiana and Mississippi.

The cruise line said it was working with the Coast Guard and would share more information when it can.

The tanker involved in the crash specializes in carrying large quantities of asphalt and bitumen, a semi-solid substance that is often used for road construction and roofing, according to the live shipping tracker MarineTraffic.

 It is not immediately clear whether the ship was carrying any materials when the crash occurred.


(AP Photo Gerald Herbert)
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