Just a few hours after a tanker in New Orleans experienced a steering failure and collided with a docked river cruise ship, the port authority of the city initiated legal action to ensure federal authorities can take possession of the vessel, which is owned by a subsidiary of a Chinese corporation.
All 197 individuals aboard the American Heritage cruise ship, including both passengers and crew, escaped unharmed on Friday, as did the crew members of the tanker.
According to officials, 32 people were transported to a hospital, among them two police officers who found themselves in the Mississippi River after the vessel rolled. Fortunately, none of the injuries were severe, with eight individuals remaining hospitalized as of Saturday.
The lawsuit initiated by the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans claims that the Atlantic Asphalt tanker inflicted at least $1 million US worth of damage to the terminal. A judge granted a warrant on Friday, temporarily placing federal officials in charge of the ship.
While the tanker has been relocated from the incident site, moving the cruise ship, which remains capsized against a terminal in the Mississippi River, may take several weeks, Coast Guard Captain Melanie Burnham informed reporters on Saturday.
It could take weeks to move the cruise ship, which remains turned on its side against a terminal in the Mississippi River. (Matthew Hinton/The Associated Press)
The first priority is to ensure the safe removal of the 60,500 liters of fuel onboard, she said. While traffic has been restricted on the Mississippi River, Burnham indicated that vessels should soon be able to navigate both upstream and downstream.
The tanker reportedly lost its steering, but the precise reason for the accident remains unclear, Burnham stated. Investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board are en route to New Orleans.
‘I thought I was drowning’
The first indication to those on the American Heritage was the tanker sounding its horn repeatedly as it approached the cruise ship, passenger Joe Knab recounted to local news outlet WDSU-TV.
The impact was forceful, causing the ship to tilt immediately. The crew assembled everyone on the third deck to don life vests and begin evacuating, but the vessel unexpectedly tipped and threw Knab along with about 100 other passengers and crew into the murky waters of the Mississippi River, where the temperature was 19 C.
Tugboat operators, other cruise ship captains, nearby workers, police, and various rescuers rushed to assist.
People are helped out of the water by responders on Friday. Dozens were hospitalized but none of the injuries were deemed critical. (Devon Flanagan/The Associated Press)
“It’s okay now, but it was quite frightening at the moment. I thought I was drowning because I kept going under — and the water was not pleasant,” Knab shared with the station, still in the muddy jeans he wore on the boat.
Knab estimated he spent about 15 minutes in the water and humorously noted that his two decades in the Navy likely aided him.
“They trained us to avoid drowning,” Knab remarked.
A tanker ship collided with a docked river cruise boat carrying 129 passengers on the Mississippi River in New Orleans on Friday. Rescuers scrambled to get people off the riverboat after it capsized and started sinking.
Knab was wearing a shirt from a Hilton hotel where the passengers congregated. All of his other belongings were lost in the river. Surprisingly, his cellphone still functioned. He hoped to board a flight back to Wichita, Kansas, soon, but was uncertain how Friday’s nationwide ground stop might complicate his travel plans.
According to New Orleans Harbor Police Chief Melanie Montroll, putting life vests on the passengers while they awaited evacuation likely saved many lives when the boat suddenly capsized.
“Whether it’s 10 feet of water or 200 feet, having those vests, having that group put those vests on and float upriver while we retrieve them — I believe was a key factor in their survival,” Montroll stated.
The American Heritage was concluding an eight-day cruise that included various destinations along the Mississippi River.
Tanker owner a subsidiary of Chinese company
The Atlantic Asphalt is a 160-meter-long vessel that was headed to New Orleans, as per MarineTraffic, and was operating under a flag from the Marshall Islands.
This ship is owned by Nave Shipping SA, which is registered in Monrovia, Liberia, according to the International Maritime Organization, and was included as one of the defendants in Friday’s lawsuit.
Nave Shipping is a subsidiary of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation, a large state-owned conglomerate in China, as reported by the live shipping tracker MarineTraffic.
The China State Shipbuilding Corporation did not respond to an emailed inquiry for comment.
The tanker involved in the incident specializes in transporting significant amounts of asphalt and bitumen, a semi-solid material commonly used in road construction and roofing, as noted by MarineTraffic.