A tanker lost steering and slammed into a docked river cruise boat on the Mississippi at New Orleans on Friday, tipping the paddlewheeler onto its side and sending 32 people to hospital. All 197 passengers and crew were accounted for, and no one was killed.
The 525-foot tanker Atlantic Asphalt struck American Cruise Lines’ American Heritage at about 12:30 p.m. local time, while the five-deck paddlewheeler was docked at the Port of New Orleans near the Crescent City Connection bridge. The boat had returned about two hours earlier from an eight-day voyage through Louisiana and Mississippi, with 129 passengers aboard.
Passengers clung to railings as the vessel took on water and listed heavily; at least 14 people were pulled from the river. The New Orleans Fire Department sent 23 units and 57 personnel to the scene, and the US Coast Guard closed a three-mile stretch of the river while the rescue was under way.
New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno said 32 people were taken to hospital with non-critical injuries. Two were Harbor Police officers hurt during the rescue; both were released on Friday evening. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry called the outcome a “miracle on the Mississippi”, and President Donald Trump praised the first responders and the Coast Guard.
The cause is under investigation. Coast Guard Captain Melanie Burnham said the tanker appeared to have lost control, though the exact reason it lost steering was not yet known. The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a Go Team to New Orleans, expected to arrive on Saturday; its travel was delayed by Friday’s nationwide FAA ground stop. The Atlantic Asphalt is a bitumen carrier sailing under the flag of the Marshall Islands, and no one aboard the tanker was injured.
Sources: Reuters (https://www.reuters.com/world/us/freighter-collides-with-cruise-ship-new-orleans-passengers-water-2026-11-13/) and CNN (https://www.cnn.com/2026/11/13/us/new-orleans-tanker-crash).
