‘Miracle on the Mississippi’: All passengers accounted for after New Orleans riverboat crash, officials say

A nearly 500-foot tanker collided with a paddlewheel riverboat carrying more than 100 tourists and crewmembers along the Mississippi River where passengers were forced into the murky waters as the boat quickly turned over and sank, steps away from a tourist-heavy stretch of downtown New Orleans.

In what New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno called a “miracle on the Mississippi,” all passengers and crew members on the American Cruise Lines vessel have been accounted for. At least 32 people were hospitalized among the 180 to 190 passengers and crew members. No deaths or critical injuries were reported.

It remains unclear what caused the tanker to “lose control,” Moreno said.

“The passengers began disembarking, but while that was happening, the cruise ship began to sink and then eventually the cruise ship toppled over and flipped,” the mayor said during a press conference Friday afternoon.

“When that occurred, we started to have people in the water,” Moreno added. “It was an all hands on deck approach.”

The crash unfolded along a heavily trafficked stretch of the riverfront just outside the French Quarter, near the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center between the Central Business District and Warehouse District.

American Cruise Lines’ paddlewheelers are a familiar fixture along the riverwalk, which is surrounded by hotels, restaurants, a shopping mall, a riverfront park and the Audubon Aquarium.

At roughly 12:30 p.m. local time, in a stretch of the river under the Crescent City Connection bridge, the riverboat was preparing to disembark passengers when the tanker careened toward the docked vessel.

Video footage from the scene shows the tanker moving perpendicular to the riverboat before making contact, creating a massive crashing noise that crackled along the riverwalk.

Evacuations had started when the boat began to sink. Harbor Police Chief Melanie Montroll said there were still many people on the riverboat as it began to tip over.

“Unfortunately, we were not able to get everyone off before the boat started to take on water, and, eventually, it would capsize,” Montroll told reporters Friday afternoon.

Passengers could be seen clinging to the rails and screaming as the boat began to tilt towards the tanker before turning upside down and sinking into the water.

Videos also show people bobbing in the water wearing orange inflatable rings while passersby try to toss ropes into the river to pull them up.

The Mississippi River in that corridor reaches depths of up to 200 feet and is notorious for powerful currents and whirlpools capable of quickly pulling swimmers under — a hazard so severe that signage along unprotected stretches of the shoreline warns pedestrians never to wade into the water.

Emergency crews began pulling people out of the water by 2:10 p.m. local time. Passengers were brought into the Port of New Orleans Administration Building to receive shelter and assistance, port officials said. Louisiana Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser told WWL-TV that initial estimates indicated 85 people had been rescued and treated alongside the dock where the ship was docked.

In a statement to The Independent on Friday evening, LCMC Health confirmed that University Medical Center New Orleans and other network hospitals had “received an estimated two dozen patients following the reported maritime incident.”

“Our medical teams are currently evaluating patients and providing appropriate care while coordinating with emergency responders,” a spokesperson added. “As this remains an active situation, we will provide additional information as appropriate.”

New Orleans officials also confirmed that a riverboat pilot from the New Orleans-Baton Rouge Steamship Pilots Association was aboard the tanker at the time of the crash.

Specialized pilots routinely board foreign-flagged vessels to help navigate the treacherous stretch of the Mississippi River from the Gulf of Mexico into Louisiana.

Investigators are expected to interview the pilot to determine what went wrong and why the vessel “lost control,” as the mayor described the incident.

An investigation in the coming days will determine what went wrong.

Louisiana Rep. Troy Carter told New Orleans news outlet WDSU-TV that a national airlines ground stop delayed a forensic team from the federal National Transportation Safety Board from getting to the scene.

The crash could mark the most serious maritime accident along that stretch of the Mississippi River since 1996, when a cargo ship collided with the Riverwalk Marketplace shopping mall, injuring 66 people.