On a Friday at the Port of New Orleans, a loaded tanker drifted into a cruise ship that was tied up and nearly finished with its journey, and in the minutes that followed a river vessel that had carried its passengers across hundreds of miles lay on its side in the Mississippi. The people aboard, roughly 180 in all, came away alive, with 32 taken to hospital and none in critical condition, a result the mayor called a miracle. Why a tanker that had already navigated a difficult river turn lost control remains unknown, and the investigation that will answer that question has only just begun, as
Tanker Rams Docked River Cruise Ship in New Orleans; All Aboard Survive, 32 Hospitalised
32 people were hospitalised and dozens were pulled from the Mississippi River, including two police officers, after the cruise ship capsized.
A miracle on the Mississippi, with zero people unaccounted for
Mark
Everyone aboard survived. How unusual is that, given the ship capsized?
Mimi
The mayor called it a miracle. The ship flipped while people were still being evacuated, and dozens went into a river about 19 degrees Celsius. Tugboat crews, dock workers and police pulled them out.
Luke
Worth saying the 32 hospitalised figure is the mayor's, and she said none were critical. We don't have a breakdown of injuries.
Mark
What actually caused the collision?
Mimi
Not known yet. The Coast Guard's Capt. Melanie Burnham said the tanker appeared to lose steering.
Luke
Appeared is doing real work there. Martin Davies suggested videos point to a systems failure, but he also said it's too early to say. That's an expert reading footage, not a finding.
Mark
Why does he think something went badly wrong?
Mimi
The tanker was going upriver against the current, slowly, had local pilot norms, and had already cleared the Algiers Point turn.
Luke
And we don't know whether a pilot was actually aboard. He said tankers generally have one, which isn't confirmation for this ship.
Mark
Why bring up the Chinese ownership?
Mimi
MarineTraffic ties the owner to China State Shipbuilding Corporation, which Trump named in a first-term order restricting certain transactions.
Luke
That's background, not a cause. Nothing in the reporting links ownership to the crash, and the corporation hasn't commented.
O Pulso
- A tanker slammed into a docked five-storey cruise ship just as passengers were stepping off, and the vessel rolled over within minutes.
- Rescuers, tugboats and police plunged into the 19-degree river to pull people out while barges and boats from other companies crowded the scene.
- Investigators could not fly into New Orleans because regional air traffic control communication failures had grounded flights, slowing the search for answers.
- The tanker apparently lost steering, but its cause is unconfirmed, and its Chinese state-linked ownership has drawn sanctions-era scrutiny.
- All 180 people survived, yet 32 remain in hospital and dozens of visitors are stranded without phones, keys or identification as the NTSB work begins.
On a Friday at the Port of New Orleans, a loaded tanker drifted into a cruise ship that was tied up and nearly finished with its journey, and in the minutes that followed a river vessel that had carried its passengers across hundreds of miles lay on its side in the Mississippi. The people aboard, roughly 180 in all, came away alive, with 32 taken to hospital and none in critical condition, a result the mayor called a miracle. Why a tanker that had already navigated a difficult river turn lost control remains unknown, and the investigation that will answer that question has only just begun, as the sea-lanes and the long reach of shipbuilding politics meet at a single riverbank.
On Friday, at the Port of New Orleans, the tanker Atlantic Asphalt struck the American Heritage, a five-storey river cruise ship tied up at the dock with around 180 people aboard. Within minutes the ship began to list, then rolled over while emergency crews were still trying to get people off. It was a moment of raw danger, and yet everyone survived.
Mayor Helena Moreno told reporters that 32 people had gone to hospital, none in critical condition, and that no one was missing. The rescue itself was improvised and crowded. Tugboat crews, dock workers and police rushed into the Mississippi, pulling out dozens of passengers, including at least two officers. Devon Flanagan, working nearby, described the chaos as vessels from other companies converged on the scene, which complicated the effort while people were still in the water.
The cause remains unclear. The Coast Guard said the tanker appeared to have lost steering, and a maritime law expert at Tulane noted that a collision at such a slow upriver speed suggests something went badly wrong aboard. The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate, though its investigators were delayed by air traffic control problems.
For the uninjured, the hours after the crash were a scramble. Passengers gathered in an auditorium where officials called a roll, and many, mostly out-of-town visitors, had lost phones, keys and identification. They needed food, rooms and rides, and simply needed to tell their families they were safe. The tanker's owner traces back to a Chinese state-owned shipbuilding conglomerate, a link that will draw attention as the NTSB examines the vessel's systems once its investigators arrive.
On Friday, at the Port of New Orleans, a tanker called the Atlantic Asphalt slammed into the American Heritage, a five-storey river cruise ship tied up at the dock. The ship was carrying around 180 people, passengers and crew together. Within minutes it began to list. It then rolled over while emergency personnel were still trying to get people off.
All of them survived. Mayor Helena Moreno told a news conference that at least 32 people were taken to hospital, none with critical injuries, and that no one was unaccounted for. She called it a miracle on the Mississippi, and the rescuers and onlookers gathered around her cheered.
The rescue was improvised and crowded. Tugboat operators, dock workers and police rushed to the water, and dozens of passengers were pulled from the Mississippi, along with at least two police officers. The river was about 19 degrees Celsius. Devon Flanagan, who was working nearby at the port, said he saw workers running toward the dock before he realised the cruise ship was upside down and people were struggling in the water. He described chaos, with barges and vessels from other companies converging to help, which he said complicated matters while people were still in the river.
Why the tanker hit the ship is not yet established. Coast Guard Capt. Melanie Burnham said it appeared to have suffered some type of loss of steering. The National Transportation Safety Board plans to investigate, but its investigators initially could not reach New Orleans because flights across the country were grounded by communication problems at regional air traffic control centres.
Martin Davies, a maritime law expert at Tulane University, said it was too early to name a cause. He noted, though, that videos seemed to suggest a possible catastrophic failure of systems aboard the tanker. The ship was heading upriver against the current at a relatively slow speed, he said, and for a collision to happen under those conditions, something must have gone badly wrong. Tankers usually carry local pilots familiar with the river, and this one had already negotiated the difficult Algiers Point turn. Davies also called the timing super bad luck, since passengers were disembarking when it struck.
The American Heritage, operated by American Cruise Lines, was finishing an eight-day voyage through Louisiana and Mississippi. Built in 2015, it is 160 metres long and can hold up to 150 passengers. According to MarineTraffic, it was due to end its trip in New Orleans.
Uninjured passengers were taken to a nearby auditorium, where cruise officials called a roll to confirm everyone was accounted for. Many had lost identification and car keys. Most were visitors from out of town and needed help with food, hotel rooms and transport. Moreno said some needed phone chargers and some had no phones at all, and that people needed to tell their families they were safe now that the story had reached national news.
Ownership of the tanker has drawn attention. The International Maritime Organisation lists its owner as Nave Shipping SA, registered in Monrovia, Liberia. MarineTraffic identifies that company as a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation, a state-owned conglomerate that held nearly a quarter of the global commercial shipbuilding market in 2022, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The corporation did not respond to an emailed request for comment on Friday afternoon. In his first term, President Donald Trump named it among more than two dozen Chinese companies accused of exploiting US investors to finance military modernisation, an order that restricted certain transactions rather than freezing all dealings. The Atlantic Asphalt carries asphalt and bitumen in bulk.
What to watch now is the NTSB's work on the tanker's steering and systems, once investigators reach the scene.
Citações Notáveis
We have zero people unaccounted for, which truly is a miracle on the Mississippi.— New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno
For something like this to happen for an upbound ship indicates that something must have gone really badly wrong.— Martin Davies, maritime law expert, Tulane University
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Leia o original em Times of India ↗