The Port of New Orleans filed a $1 million federal lawsuit against the owners of the Atlantic Asphalt tanker after the vessel lost steering and crashed into a docked cruise ship on Friday.
The collision occurred at about 12:30 p.m. at the port’s Thalia Street terminal as passengers were disembarking from the American Heritage. The paddlewheel cruise ship was struck by the 525-foot cargo vessel, causing the riverboat to flip onto its side and partially submerge in the Mississippi River, according to court documents cited by KTRE.
There were 197 passengers and crew aboard the American Heritage during the incident, according to US News, though other tallies placed the passenger count near 129 or 130 alongside crew members. While 32 people required hospital treatment for non-critical injuries, authorities confirmed that all passengers and crew were accounted for with no deaths reported.
Port Files Lawsuit
As The Guardian reported, the legal complaint against Nave Shipping SA, Thome Ship Management, and the Atlantic Asphalt tanker was lodged in federal court late Friday by the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans. The Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans is named as the plaintiff, with legal representation provided by Christopher Hannan, Sara Kuebel, and Abigail Weiland from the Jones Walker law practice.
“The allision occurred as a result of the negligence, gross negligence, fault or carelessness of the Atlantic Asphalt, Nave Shipping, Thome,” the lawsuit says. The case was initially distributed to federal magistrate Karen Wells Roby and U.S. District Judge Wendy Vitter, who serves as chief judge at the New Orleans federal courthouse, according to court documentation.
U.S. District Judge Wendy Vitter approved a port request to issue an arrest warrant and seize the tanker, giving federal officials control of the vessel. Physical damage to the Thalia Street terminal will exceed $1 million, and the port anticipates additional costs for cleanup, inspections, and salvage operations.
Agency Begins Probe
Passengers recounted the sudden impact of the crash after the tanker sounded its horn. Passenger Joe Knab told US News that crew members gathered passengers on the third deck to put on life vests before the ship rolled, sending him and about 100 others into the river. Knab said that he thinks he was in the water about 15 minutes and that his 20 years in the Navy likely helped him survive.
“It’s fine now, but it was a little scary there at the time. I thought I was drowning because I kept bobbing underneath — and the water doesn’t taste very good,” Knab told US News.
New Orleans Harbor Police Chief Melanie Montroll credited the decision to distribute life vests with preventing fatalities during the rapid capsize.
“Whether it’s 10 feet of water or 200 feet, having those vests, having that population put those vests on and kind of float upriver while we retrieve them — I think was the best factor of success,” Montroll said, according to US News.
New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno described the outcome as a “miracle on the Mississippi” due to the prompt response of first responders. Coast Guard Capt. Melanie Burnham, commander of the New Orleans sector, said that the tanker appeared to have experienced “some type of a loss of steering” before the collision, as reported by AOL.
Burnham also said that about 16,000 gallons of fuel remain aboard the cruise ship and must be removed safely before anything else gets done.
The National Transportation Safety Board recovered the tanker’s voyage data recorder from the vessel. NTSB investigator John DeLeeuw announced that a preliminary report is expected within 30 days, while the final investigation report could take 18 to 24 months, according to US News. A 16-member team will spend a week in New Orleans investigating the incident.
The tanker was operating on the Mississippi River alongside the American Heritage. “which had just concluded an eight-day cruise calling at destinations in Louisiana and Mississippi,” records show.
Earlier coverage: Tanker Crash: New Orleans Mayor Calls it 'Miracle on the Mississippi