A large tanker ship struck a riverboat with 191 passengers and crew members aboard in New Orleans on Friday, capsizing the cruise vessel and prompting a major rescue effort in the Mississippi River. First responders pulled roughly 100 people from the water, New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno said Saturday. Everyone aboard was accounted for, and no one died.
The American Heritage ship, managed by American Cruise Lines, was T-boned by the tanker while docked near the French Quarter, a spokesperson said in a statement. Eight people remained hospitalized as of Saturday, including two in serious condition, said Jen Avegno, the deputy mayor for health and human services. The other six were stable.
Avegno said 32 people were taken to hospitals from the scene Friday, including 30 passengers and crew members and two responders. Two more people went to a hospital later to be evaluated. Moreno called that fact that everyone survived “a miracle on the Mississippi.” Coast Guard Capt. Melanie Burnham said Saturday that initial reports pointed to a steering problem aboard the tanker.
The cause of the collision remained under investigation. The U.S. Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating. Some NTSB investigators had arrived in New Orleans by Saturday, and more team members were expected later in the day, Moreno said. A nationwide airport ground stop had delayed their arrival.
The boat had been docked in the port for about two hours before the incident, NBC affiliate WDSU reported. Officials said the tanker lost control and collided with the riverboat at 12:30 p.m. in the Port of New Orleans, one of the nation’s largest ports. While passengers were disembarking, the riverboat began to sink and flipped, Moreno said. “When that occurred, we started to have people in the water,” she said.
She described the effort to rescue those passengers as an “all hands on deck approach.” Harbor Police Chief Melody Montroll said officers got more than 80 people off the riverboat before it capsized. Commercial and private vessels also joined the rescue. Moreno said a boat from a local barge company pulled more than a dozen people from the water.
The riverboat’s captain was injured and was the last person off the vessel, Moreno said. He waited until he knew where the passengers and crew were before seeking treatment. The American Heritage had been set to embark on a seven-day cruise to Mississippi. Video and images verified by NBC News show a number of people wearing life jackets in the water near the site of the crash.
A passenger who was on the riverboat told NBC News that she had to crawl to safety after the collision. “After the initial crash, it hit us again and we flipped over and I had to crawl over the railing and people to save myself,” Rhonda Akers said. Akers said her husband was hospitalized with a head injury and she was waiting to see him.
A 3-mile stretch of the river was closed to traffic while responders assessed the situation. The Coast Guard reopened the river to one-way traffic late Friday and allowed limited two-way traffic in the main channel Saturday. Atlantic Asphalt, the tanker that struck the cruise vessel, is based in the Marshall Islands and is owned by Chinese and Liberian companies, according to public records.