All passengers and crew members aboard a US river cruise ship have survived after a tanker collided with the vessel on the Mississippi River in New Orleans, Louisiana, causing it to overturn and throwing several people into the water.
New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno confirmed that everyone aboard the American Heritage, operated by American Cruise Lines, had been accounted for following a major rescue operation on Friday.
Thirty-two people, comprising 30 passengers and two police officers, were taken to hospitals, although none sustained critical injuries.
“We have zero people unaccounted for, which truly is a miracle on the Mississippi,” Moreno said at a news conference.
The accident occurred at about 12:30 pm local time when the 160-metre Marshall Islands-flagged tanker, Atlantic Asphalt, struck the docked passenger vessel near the Crescent City Connection bridge while navigating the Lower Mississippi River.
The impact caused the cruise ship to take in water, tilt heavily and eventually capsize beside the dock.
Footage of the incident showed passengers and other occupants in the water wearing life jackets as tugboat operators, nearby vessel crews, police officers and emergency responders worked to rescue them.
The American Heritage had arrived at the dock approximately two hours earlier to disembark passengers after an eight-day Mississippi River cruise.
Port officials said about 129 passengers were aboard, alongside crew members.
Moreno said evacuation efforts began immediately after the collision, but the vessel overturned before everyone could leave, leaving rescuers to pull people from the river.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry commended the emergency response, describing the outcome as “nothing short of a miracle.”
“While we will continue to work through the details of this incident, one thing is clear: our first responders on the national, state, and local level saved countless lives today, and for that I and all of our country are thankful!” Landry said.
American Cruise Lines said it was making arrangements to provide hotel accommodation and other assistance to the passengers and crew affected by the incident.
“We are getting everyone who was aboard the ship settled into hotels and making sure they have everything they need,” the company said.
The United States Coast Guard said the tanker might have suffered a steering malfunction before the collision, although the cause of the accident had yet to be established.
Coast Guard Captain Melanie Burnham said the vessel appeared to have experienced “some type of loss of steering,” while stressing that investigations were ongoing.
The National Transportation Safety Board has also commenced an investigation into the incident and is expected to deploy a team to New Orleans on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Coast Guard temporarily shut the Mississippi River to vessel traffic between mile markers 93 and 96 to allow emergency operations to continue, disrupting navigation along the busy commercial waterway.
The Atlantic Asphalt is a 160-metre asphalt and bitumen tanker operating under the Marshall Islands flag, while the American Heritage is an 81-metre US-flagged paddlewheel cruise ship built in 2015 with a capacity of up to 150 passengers.
Marine tracking data showed that the tanker visited Amuay, Venezuela, in October before proceeding to Paulsboro, New Jersey.
It departed Paulsboro on October 26 and arrived in New Orleans on November 11, two days before the collision.
Investigators are expected to examine the circumstances surrounding the crash, including the possibility of a steering failure, as commercial vessels, barges, tugboats and passenger ships regularly navigate the Lower Mississippi River.
