On Friday, 13 November, at about 12:30 p.m., the tanker Atlantic Asphalt struck the river cruise boat American Heritage while it was tied up at the Port of New Orleans. The American Cruise Lines paddlewheeler ended up on its side and largely under water. The port said the boat had been at the dock for about two hours and that passengers had started to get off. About 129 passengers were aboard, plus the crew, according to Port NOLA. The vessel can carry up to 150 guests, WWNO reported. Public records cited by the same station list the tanker as registered in the Marshall Islands.

Mayor Helena Moreno said the tanker “lost control.” As people were getting off, the boat “began to sink, and then eventually toppled over and flipped,” and some of them ended up in the water. Officials said everyone on both vessels was accounted for and that there were no deaths. Thirty-two passengers were taken to hospitals, none in critical condition. No one on the tanker was hurt, Moreno said. Harbor Police Chief Melanie Montroll said two of her officers were also hospitalized during the rescue, but were in good condition. Moreno called the operation a “miracle on the Mississippi.”

The cause is not established. Coast Guard Capt. Melanie Burnham said the investigation is still going and that there “seems to be some kind of a loss of steering,” though the exact reason is not known. Moreno had also spoken of a loss of steering. The NTSB said it was sending a team to the scene on Saturday. It then said that, because of a nationwide ground stop on Friday, the investigators would drive rather than fly, and that a board member would no longer be sent.

Harbor Police were first into the river to pull people out, firefighters lowered ladders from the dock, and the Coast Guard sent boats, cutters and helicopters. Moreno said private vessels already on the river also stepped in as volunteers. Nearby boats reported pulling more than a dozen people from the water. New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said a department drone that was already in the air on another call was redirected to the scene and showed people in the water. American Cruise Lines said the guests and crew were evacuated and that it is working with the Coast Guard and local authorities.

Witness Jamie Holford told CBS News he saw the boat hit the dock, people hurrying off, then climbing over the railings as it rolled. “It looked like something off the Titanic,” he said. Of the noise: “It sounded like a war movie. Just imagine tons of steel crunching. That’s what it sounded like.”

The Coast Guard closed traffic on a stretch of about three miles. Burnham said the priority is shifting toward reopening the river. The ferry that crosses the Mississippi was suspended, and a festival by the river was called off for the day, WWNO reported. Governor Jeff Landry came to New Orleans. He said he called Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, and that President Donald Trump then called him and said, “Whatever Louisiana needs, we will make sure that they get.” Landry called the case an active investigation.

Moreno said passengers are being put up in local hotels and given transportation, and that some need replacement prescriptions after losing their belongings on the boat. The city is working with the Red Cross and University Medical Center.

The photograph shows a crane at the port on the Mississippi at New Orleans. It is not Friday’s collision and it does not show the two vessels. Credit: MeRyan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

Source: River cruise ship, tanker crash in New Orleans on Mississippi River; passengers rescued, CBS News.