All Accounted for After Tanker Hits Docked River Cruise Ship in New Orleans
In what New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno called a “miracle on the Mississippi,” all passengers and crew were accounted for—and no one was killed or critically injured—after a tanker struck a docked river cruise ship on the Mississippi River on Friday afternoon.
Thirty-two people were taken to local hospitals after the Atlantic Asphalt hit American Cruise Lines’ American Heritage at about 12:30 p.m., but none of the injuries were considered critical, Moreno said at a news conference.
No passengers or crew members remained unaccounted for, Moreno said. She credited a hurried but effective multi-agency rescue effort after the American Heritage was struck and several people ended up in the river, whose waters are cold and whose currents are notoriously dangerous.
That “truly is a miracle on the Mississippi,” Moreno said near the crash site as fellow officials applauded.
The American Heritage had about 129 passengers, plus crew members, aboard when it was hit, Port of New Orleans press secretary Kimberly Curth said in a statement.
About two hours earlier, the American Heritage had docked at the port to begin disembarking passengers, Curth said.
Everyone reported injured was aboard the American Heritage, and most were said to have suffered bumps and bruises. Officials did not immediately provide details about what caused the crash.
Moreno said investigators would examine whether the Atlantic Asphalt experienced a loss of steering before the collision, as an emergency response source had said earlier, though that had not been immediately confirmed.
The website marinetraffic.com showed the Atlantic Asphalt’s path appeared uneventful as it navigated the challenging bend of the Mississippi near New Orleans’ Algiers Point neighborhood. The vessel had just passed the Crescent City Connection bridge linking the central business district and Algiers when it began heading generally to its starboard, or right, side.
Video provided to Guardian reporting partner WWL Louisiana showed the Atlantic Asphalt then striking the side of the American Heritage broadside. The cruise ship eventually rolled slowly onto its side where it was struck, according to the video, which the CBS affiliate obtained from Barry Kern, proprietor of Mardi Gras World, a tourist attraction near the crash site.
One witness, Jamie Holford, told local NBC News affiliate WDSU that it took 15 minutes “from impact to where it rolled over.”
“Surreal,” Holford said. “That’s what that was.”
Maritime law expert Martin J. Davies of Tulane University in New Orleans told local Fox affiliate WVUE that the Atlantic Asphalt was fortunate not to have hit the Crescent City Connection, which could have endangered motorists on the two-span cantilever steel truss bridge that is estimated to carry about 160,000 cars daily.
“This is obviously a really bad incident,” Davies said. “But it could also have struck the bridge, which it didn’t.”
A video from WDSU showed tugboat crew members pulling people in life jackets or holding flotation rings out of the river. An emergency response involving firefighters, U.S. Coast Guard helicopter and boat crews, port and city police and others also helped rescue people who ended up in the water in full view of cameras and eyewitnesses.
One image on social media showed people climbing onto the side of the cruise boat—specifically onto stateroom balconies—after it was struck, with chairs and tables scattered after the vessel evidently took on water.
Blake Paterson, an independent New Orleans journalist who publishes Perdido Street News, interviewed 65-year-old American Heritage passenger Tamara Carrasco about what she saw when the crash occurred.
Carrasco, a retired Atlanta elementary school teacher, told Paterson she was dining on the first floor of the riverboat when she saw the tanker heading toward the American Heritage. The tanker dropped its anchor, and she could see its crew running away on deck, according to Carrasco’s account.
Carrasco began running to the other side of the riverboat but was knocked to the ground when the tanker hit. She said water began pouring into the dining room, making her think it was “like the Titanic.”
An employee at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center next to the crash site said she realized something was wrong when she saw from her vantage point that the tip of the American Heritage was tilted. She then grasped the severity of the situation when she heard desperate screams.
“People were screaming for help,” said the employee, who asked not to be named. She recalled how she and colleagues gathered wheelchairs, water and other items in case survivors soon needed them.
The American Heritage’s passengers were brought inside the New Orleans port’s administration building, next to the convention center.
At the news conference where officials confirmed there were no fatalities, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry echoed Moreno in invoking the word “miracle,” especially “when you think about the population that was on that cruise ship—and the ability for us to get them off and out of the water.”
“The Mississippi River is not some quiet pond,” Landry said. “There were challenges out there.”
With everyone accounted for, New Orleans’s U.S. Coast Guard commander, Melanie Burnham, said the focus would shift to reopening the river to traffic. It had been closed from mile markers 93 to 96 to facilitate rescue efforts.
U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a suburban New Orleans Republican, said Friday that the National Transportation Safety Board would investigate the crash.
A statement from American Cruise Lines on Friday said “guests and crew were evacuated” from the American Heritage but did not elaborate. “We are deeply concerned for everyone involved,” the cruise operator added.
The American Heritage, a 300-foot paddle-wheel ship, was built in 2015 and previously sailed as the Queen of the Mississippi. It has more than 80 staterooms and operates cruises on the Mississippi River, including departures from New Orleans.
The Atlantic Asphalt is an oil tanker built in 2017, measuring approximately 160 meters in length with a deadweight of 17,764 metric tons. It flies the flag of the Marshall Islands and is owned and commercially operated by Nave Shipping SA, a company registered in Liberia. Its maintenance, technical and safety operations are overseen by Singapore-based Thome Ship Management, according to online records.
The vessel, whose next recorded destination was Singapore, does not appear on international sanctions lists checked by maritime tracking services, including Magic Port.
However, it was previously fined C$7,800 by Canadian authorities for a violation of the Canada Shipping Act and related vessel pollution regulations.
The penalty, recorded on August 11, 2020, stemmed from an officer failing to properly carry out duties while supervising a transfer operation aboard the oil tanker, according to the Canadian government.
To many in New Orleans, the crash involving the Atlantic Asphalt recalled a nearby episode nearly 30 years earlier, when a cargo ship struck a wharf adjacent to the city’s Riverwalk shopping center and Hilton Riverside hotel.
No deaths resulted from that case, which occurred on December 14, 1996, after the Liberian-registered Bright Field lost propulsion power, an NTSB report later said. But more than 60 injuries were reported, including four considered serious.
Maya Yang contributed reporting.