A tanker that apparently lost its steering slammed into a docked river cruise boat on the Mississippi River in New Orleans on Friday, and within minutes the five-deck paddlewheeler was listing hard, taking on water, and then flipping onto its side. By Friday evening, the outcome nobody dared to expect was official: all 180 people aboard the American Heritage had survived.
The collision happened at about 12:30 p.m. local time, the Port of New Orleans said, while passengers were still disembarking from an eight-day cruise along the Mississippi. The much larger tanker, the Atlantic Asphalt, struck the riverboat as it sat moored near the port. Video from the scene showed metal and glass crashing as the tanker hit, and passengers plunging into the river as the boat began to topple.
Rescuers did not wait for orders. Tugboat operators, nearby workers, harbor police and Coast Guard crews rushed to the scene, pulling people from the 66-degree water and onto nearby vessels. At least 14 people were rescued from the river, and dozens more — including at least two police officers — were dragged from the water onto ships alongside.
“We have zero people unaccounted for, which truly is a miracle on the Mississippi.” — New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno, at a Friday news conference, as rescuers cheered.
Thirty-two people were taken to local hospitals, the mayor said, but none of them had critical injuries. No one aboard the tanker was hurt. The people who were not injured were brought to a nearby auditorium, where cruise officials did a roll call to make sure every passenger and crew member was accounted for.
How A Routine Docking Turned Into Chaos
The tanker was traveling upriver, moving slowly against the current, and had already made the difficult Algiers Point turn on the Mississippi before it struck the docked boat, according to Martin Davies, a maritime law expert at Tulane University. Tankers on this stretch of river carry local pilots aboard for guidance, because they know the waters so well — which is part of what makes the collision so hard to explain.
It appeared the tanker suffered “some type of loss of steering,” Coast Guard Capt. Melanie Burnham said, but the exact cause had not been established on Friday. Davies said the video pointed to some kind of catastrophic system failure — and “super bad luck” that it struck just as passengers were stepping off the boat. “For something like this to happen for an upbound ship indicates that something must have gone really badly wrong,” he said.
The Atlantic Asphalt is a 520-foot tanker that carries asphalt and bitumen, the sticky black material used for road construction and roofing. It sails under a Marshall Islands flag and is owned by Nave Shipping SA, a company registered in Monrovia, Liberia, and a subsidiary of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation, according to shipping records cited by the Associated Press.
THE STORY SO FAR
Friday morning — The American Heritage docks at the Port of New Orleans after an eight-day cruise to Mississippi River destinations in Louisiana and Mississippi. Passengers begin to disembark.
About 12:30 p.m. local time — The Atlantic Asphalt, traveling upriver, strikes the docked riverboat. The American Heritage starts listing within minutes and flips while emergency workers are still getting people off.
Friday afternoon — The Coast Guard closes a three-mile stretch of the Mississippi, between mile markers 93 and 96. At least 14 people are pulled from the water and 32 are taken to hospitals. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says the department is “throwing every asset we have” at the rescue.
Friday evening — Mayor Helena Moreno confirms that zero people are unaccounted for and calls it “a miracle on the Mississippi.” President Donald Trump is briefed on the crash, according to a senior White House official.
Saturday — The National Transportation Safety Board’s Go Team is due to arrive in New Orleans. Its members were initially unable to get there on Friday because all flights nationwide were grounded by the FAA’s communications failure.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
The NTSB investigation is now the central question: what failed aboard the Atlantic Asphalt, and why did a slow-moving upbound tanker lose control on a stretch of river it had already navigated? Investigators will examine the tanker’s steering systems, its voyage data and the role of the local pilot aboard.
The Coast Guard will decide when the closed stretch of the Mississippi reopens to vessel traffic. American Cruise Lines said it was coordinating with the Coast Guard and local authorities, and that “guests and crew were evacuated.” For the passengers — most of them from out of town, many without IDs, car keys or working phones — the immediate next step is simpler: chargers, food, hotel rooms and a way home.
The riverboat itself will need to be recovered and assessed before anyone can say whether it will sail again. The cause of the crash remains officially undetermined, and officials have stressed that the early reports of a steering failure are preliminary, not a final finding.
