NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A tanker struck the American Heritage river cruise paddleboat in New Orleans on Friday with 129 passengers aboard, partially submerging the boat. Rescues were underway on the Mississippi River, officials said.
Authorities did not immediately release whether there were injuries or deaths.
Video from the scene showed the much larger Atlantic Asphalt tanker hit the paddlewheel cruise boat while it appeared to be docked as metal and glass
crashed and crunched.
More than a dozen people in lifejackets were being dragged from the 66-degree Fahrenheit (19-degree Celsius) river onto nearby ships. Others were standing near the railing as the other side of the American Heritage listed further into the water.
“Surreal — that’s what that was,” witness Jamie Holford told WDSU-TV. “Fifteen minutes from impact to where it rolled over.”
The cruise ship was built in 2015 and operated by American Cruise Lines. It is five stories and can hold up to 150 passengers.
The American Heritage was finishing an eight-day cruise to several Mississippi River destinations in Louisiana and Mississippi.
The tanker involved in the crash specializes in carrying large quantities of asphalt and bitumen, a semi-solid substance that is often used for road construction and roofing, according to the live shipping tracker MarineTraffic.
Ships carrying asphalt and bitumen are often heated well above 250 degrees Fahrenheit (120 degrees Celsius) to prevent the asphalt from solidifying on the ship, according to the maritime periodical Marine Insights. It is not immediately clear whether the ship was carrying any materials when the crash occurred.
The 520-foot (160-meter) long vessel had a final destination in New Orleans, according to MarineTraffic, and was sailing under a flag for the Marshall Islands.
