A tanker lost control on the Mississippi River and struck a docked river cruise boat at New Orleans on Friday, capsizing it and sending passengers into the water. Thirty-two people were taken to hospital, none with critical injuries, and everyone aboard was accounted for.
The tanker Atlantic Asphalt hit the paddlewheeler American Heritage at about 12.30pm local time, Al Jazeera reported, citing the Port of New Orleans. The cruise boat had docked roughly two hours earlier and passengers were disembarking when it was struck.
New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno said the boat “began to sink, and then eventually toppled over and flipped”, throwing people into the river. More than a dozen people in life jackets were pulled from the water — which was at 19°C — onto nearby vessels.
”A miracle on the Mississippi”
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry called the outcome “a literal miracle on the Mississippi”, CNN reported. New Orleans firefighters ran ladders over the dock to reach people, and other ships on the river joined the rescue.
US Coast Guard Captain Melanie Burnham said the tanker appeared to have “lost control”, and that the reason it may have lost steering remained unknown. The person at the helm was a river pilot. The river was closed to traffic immediately after the collision.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating, with inspectors due on scene on Saturday morning. Two harbour police officers who had been hospitalised were released on Friday evening.
How many were aboard
The three filings give three different counts, and none reconciles them. Al Jazeera reports 129 passengers; CNN says all 197 passengers reached safety, citing the governor; Hiru News, citing NBC News and NDTV, puts it at 180 to 190, attributed to the mayor.
The operator’s own figure is a constraint on all three: Al Jazeera reports the five-deck American Heritage, built in 2015, holds up to 150 passengers. A total of 197 would therefore have to include crew. This desk cannot resolve the discrepancy and reproduces each figure with its source.
Hiru’s account also has the vessel about to depart on a seven-day Mississippi cruise. Al Jazeera and CNN both describe passengers disembarking at the end of an eight-day trip through Louisiana and Mississippi — the sequence the mayor and the operator describe.
The 160-metre tanker was flying the flag of the Marshall Islands and carries asphalt and bitumen. Whether it was loaded at the time has not been disclosed.
Not reported
The cause of the steering failure has not been established, and no filing says who owns the Atlantic Asphalt. None gives a timeline for refloating the American Heritage or reopening the river to normal traffic.
