On a bright Friday midday, while the American Heritage was still releasing its passengers at a New Orleans dock, a tanker struck the paddle-wheeler on the Mississippi, and the river that has carried this city's commerce and its visitors for generations was suddenly a place of fear. Thirty-two people were hurt and taken to local hospitals, and the mayor's account insists that no one died and every person aboard was counted. What caused the impact, and who was moving when it happened, remain for the investigators to determine, as they will for every such collision on a river this busy.
All Passengers Accounted For After Cruise Ship Collides With Tanker on the Mississippi in New Orleans
32 people were injured and taken to local hospitals; some passengers swam for safety after the cruise ship began listing.
A miracle on the Mississippi, with 32 hurt and no one lost
On a bright Friday midday, while the American Heritage was still releasing its passengers at a New Orleans dock, a tanker struck the paddle-wheeler on the Mississippi, and the river that has carried this city's commerce and its visitors for generations was suddenly a place of fear. Thirty-two people were hurt and taken to local hospitals, and the mayor's account insists that no one died and every person aboard was counted. What caused the impact, and who was moving when it happened, remain for the investigators to determine, as they will for every such collision on a river this busy.
Shortly after noon on Friday, the American Heritage, a 295-foot paddle-wheeler owned by American Cruise Lines, was in the middle of letting its passengers off on the Mississippi River in New Orleans when the tanker Atlantic Asphalt struck it. The cruise ship began to list, and some of the people aboard went into the water and swam for safety.
By afternoon the city had its count. Mayor Helena Moreno told reporters that 32 people had been injured and taken to local hospitals, and that no one had died. Every passenger and crew member of the American Heritage was accounted for. She called the outcome a miracle on the Mississippi, a phrase that carried the weight of a day that could have ended far worse.
The tanker's crew was unharmed, so the injured all came from the cruise ship. The reporting does not say how severe those injuries were, what caused the collision, or what condition the ship is in now.
What comes next is an investigation into how a tanker and a passenger vessel came together on one of the country's busiest river stretches, and whether it will prompt a review of how boats operate near the city's docks.
Shortly after noon on Friday, the American Heritage was in the middle of letting its passengers off the boat on the Mississippi River in New Orleans when a tanker struck it. The cruise ship, a 295-foot paddle-wheeler owned by American Cruise Lines, began to list. Some of the people aboard went into the river and swam for safety.
The collision came at about 12:30 p.m. The other vessel was the Atlantic Asphalt, a tanker roughly 500 feet long. The source material does not say how the two ships came to meet, or which of them was moving at the moment of impact.
By Friday afternoon, the city had a count. Mayor Helena Moreno told a news conference that 32 people had been injured and taken to local hospitals. No one had died. Every passenger and crew member of the American Heritage was accounted for.
Moreno called the outcome "truly is a miracle on the Mississippi," and she described the crash itself as horrific. Given that the ship was tilting and people were in the water, the absence of any deaths is the central fact of the day, and the mayor framed it that way.
The tanker's crew was unharmed. Moreno said no one on the Atlantic Asphalt was injured, so all 32 hospitalized people came from the cruise ship's passengers and crew. The source does not break that number down further, and it does not describe the severity of the injuries.
Several basic questions remain open. The reporting does not say what caused the collision, what condition the American Heritage is in now, or how many people were aboard when the tanker hit. It also does not explain how those who ended up in the water were pulled to safety, though Moreno's statement indicates that everyone was ultimately located.
What comes next is the investigation into how a tanker and a passenger vessel collided on one of the busiest stretches of river in the country, and whether that inquiry leads to any review of how vessels operate on the Mississippi near the city's docks. For now, the known outcome is 32 injured, no dead, and a ship that was caught in the act of unloading its passengers.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
It truly is a miracle on the Mississippi.— New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno
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