The boat had been docked in the port for about two hours before the incident, NBC affiliate WDSU reported.
Officials said the tanker lost control and collided with the riverboat at 12:30 p.m. in the Port of New Orleans, one of the nation’s largest ports. While passengers were disembarking, the riverboat began to sink and flipped, Moreno said.
“When that occurred, we started to have people in the water,” she said.
She described the effort to rescue those passengers as an “all hands on deck approach.” Harbor Police Chief Melody Montroll said officers got more than 80 people off the riverboat before it capsized. Commercial and private vessels also joined the rescue. Moreno said a boat from a local barge company pulled more than a dozen people from the water.
The riverboat’s captain was injured and was the last person off the vessel, Moreno said. He waited until he knew where the passengers and crew were before seeking treatment. The American Heritage had been set to embark on a seven-day cruise to Mississippi.
Video and images verified by NBC News show a number of people wearing life jackets in the water near the site of the crash.
A passenger who was on the riverboat told NBC News that she had to crawl to safety after the collision.
“After the initial crash, it hit us again and we flipped over and I had to crawl over the railing and people to save myself,” Rhonda Akers said.
Akers said her husband was hospitalized with a head injury and she was waiting to see him.
Leave a Reply