All passengers and crew have been accounted for after the American Cruise Lines’ American Heritage capsized in the Mississippi River at the Port of New Orleans on Friday, officials said at a press conference that afternoon.
Thirty-two people were taken to local hospitals and none had critical injuries, according to officials. This included 30 from the ship and two first responders, official said.
The tanker Atlantic Asphalt struck the American Heritage at about 12:30 p.m. The riverboat was docked at the port and passengers were disembarking.
“At this moment, the information that we have, we have zero people unaccounted for, which truly is a miracle on the Mississippi,” New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno said at the press conference.
Moreno said the tanker lost control before it hit the cruise ship. Passengers began leaving the American Heritage after the collision.
“But while that was happening, the cruise ship began to sink, and then eventually the cruise ship toppled over and flipped,” she said. “Now, when that occurred, we started to have people in the water.”
Moreno credited Port NOLA Harbor Police with going into the water to pull people out. She said New Orleans firefighters put ladders over the dock to get people up, and other vessels on the river stopped to help.
Captain Melanie Burnham, commander of U.S. Coast Guard Sector New Orleans and captain of the port, said the Coast Guard sent small boats, cutters and helicopters to the search and rescue. She called the coordination between agencies “absolutely exceptional.”
“Our focus here for the Coast Guard will now shift to reopening the river, because I did shut that down immediately as soon as we heard about the incident,” Burnham said.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry flew in from Baton Rouge by helicopter.
He said President Trump had called him and told him, “Jeff, whatever Louisiana needs, we will make sure that they get.”
“It is a literal miracle on the Mississippi,” Landry said. “When you think about the population that was on that cruise ship and the ability for us to get them off, get them out of the water. Just in case you know, the Mississippi River is not some quiet pond.”
Landry said he and Moreno had met with passengers.
“We are going to make sure that they have a place to stay,” he said. “We’re going to make sure that we get them to their loved ones in a very orderly fashion.”
The governor said the collision as an active investigation.
“We are going to get down to the bottom of exactly what happened here and make sure that we make any adjustments necessary so that the people that travel on the waterways here can know that they can do so in safety,” he said.
