Follow-Up: Mississippi River Reopens After New Orleans Collision; All 197 Aboard the American Heritage Accounted For as Port Sues Tanker Interests for Over $1 Million
The U.S. Coast Guard said on Saturday, November 14, that the stretch of the lower Mississippi River at New Orleans, Louisiana, where a tanker struck a docked riverboat has reopened to traffic, with a 500-foot safety zone remaining around the capsized riverboat American Heritage. The Port of New Orleans said a corrected count shows 197 passengers and crew members were aboard, all of them accounted for, with no one missing and no deaths.
The Coast Guard first reopened the stretch between mile markers 95.5 and 96.5 to one-way traffic on Saturday morning, with the alternate span of the Crescent City Connection Bridge closed. By Saturday afternoon, Coast Guard public affairs officer Rachel Ault said the Mississippi River was open to all traffic, with the safety zone still in effect around the American Heritage and the cause of the collision still under investigation. The tanker Atlantic Asphalt has been moved from the collision site. Coast Guard Capt. Melanie Burnham has said the tanker appeared to suffer some type of loss of steering, though the exact reason remains unknown.
The Port of New Orleans corrected its count on Friday evening: 197 passengers and crew members were aboard in total, while the 129 figure released earlier referred to passengers only. Harbor Police Chief Melanie Montro said Saturday that more than 80 people were evacuated before the riverboat overturned, while roughly 100 people ended up in the river and were pulled out by responders and nearby vessels. Thirty-two people were taken to hospitals, none with critical injuries.
On salvage, Burnham said crews are preparing to remove about 16,000 gallons of fuel from the American Heritage before salvage operations begin. New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno said removing the capsized riverboat is expected to take weeks, not days.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Friday evening that, because of that day's nationwide flight ground stop, its investigators would travel to New Orleans by ground instead, that no board member would go to the scene, and that no media briefings were planned. Moreno said Saturday that some NTSB investigators had arrived in New Orleans, with the rest expected later Saturday.
Legal action has begun. The Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans sued the tanker Atlantic Asphalt, its Liberia-registered owner Nave Shipping SA and its Singapore-based manager Thome Ship Management Pte Ltd in federal court in the Eastern District of Louisiana on Friday evening, alleging the collision resulted from the tanker's negligence and gross negligence. The complaint says the Thalia Street Terminal, where the riverboat was docked, was significantly damaged, with physical damage currently estimated to exceed $1 million, plus cleanup, survey, repair, replacement and salvage costs, and asserts a maritime lien against the tanker. U.S. District Judge Wendy Vitter on Friday approved the port's request and issued a warrant authorizing U.S. Marshals to seize the Atlantic Asphalt.
(Source: U.S. Coast Guard)
Source: U.S. Coast Guard
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：「美国遗产号」内河游船资料图（图中为该船原名「密西西比皇后号」时期，正通过俄亥俄河上的 J.T. Myers 船闸）。美国陆军工程兵团 Deneise Kramer 摄，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: File photo of the riverboat American Heritage, pictured under her former name Queen of the Mississippi passing through the J.T. Myers Locks and Dam on the Ohio River. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Deneise Kramer, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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