New Orleans boat crash: tanker collides with river cruise ship carrying more than 130 people – latest updates

A tanker has collided with a river cruise liner carrying more than 130 people in New Orleans, authorities have said.

The governor of Louisiana has confirmed an incident in the Mississippi River. Jeff Landry said on X he was in contact with local officials and law enforcement.

The cruise liner was taking on water, local media reports said, and rescue efforts are under way.

The Port of New Orleans press secretary said the tanker collided with the American Cruise Lines’ American Heritage around 12:30 pm local time on Friday.

There were about 129 passengers onboard as well as crew, Port authorities told local media.

This is breaking news story. We’ll bring you the latest updates as we get them.

Martin J Davies, a maritime expert at Tulane University, told local news outlet Fox 8 that he suspected the incident was caused by either steerage failure or engine failure.

“This ship is headed upriver and for it to have lost the ability to avoid the moored vessel, there must have been some fairly substantial failure, with the steering gear or the propulsion of the ship to prevent them from avoiding the vessel on shore,” Davies said.

“Given that the pressure of the water going down river is sufficiently strong that the upbound ship would have been going fairly slowly,” he said. “So that’s my first thought upon looking at the footage.”

Davies also noted how close the tanker and cruise ship appear to be to the bridge above.

Pictures are now coming in from the news wires. Emergency personnel and crews can be seen on the scene after a tanker crashed into a river cruise in New Orleans. The cruise liner can be seen lying on its side:

Officials said they will be holding a news conference at 3pm CST, to begin in about ten minutes, providing further updates on the collision. We will bring you those latest updates as they come.

A statement from the US coast guard also announced that the river “is closed to all vessel traffic between mile markers 93 and 96,” encompassing the area where Friday’s crash occurred. That is so to assist responders as they “assess the situation and conduct response operations”, the coast guard’s statement said.

The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority said in a statement on social media that ferry service across the Mississippi River has been temporarily suspended as a precaution following the collision. Travelers are encouraged to seek alternate routes.

New Orleans mayor Helena Moreno’s communication team said multiple individuals have been rescued, and search-and-rescue operations remain ongoing, according to a local Fox News affiliate.

Photos are circulating on social media of people climbing out and onto the balconies of the ship that is now turned completely on its side.

Local media is reporting that multiple people have already been rescued, and helicopters were seen in the air along with ambulances waiting nearby. Several people can be seen in the river wearing life jackets.

Videos circulating across social media appear to show the moment the Atlantic Asphalt tanker crashes into the side of the American Cruise Lines’ American Heritage while the cruise ship is docked on the Mississippi River. The ship then falls to its side towards the open water and begins sinking rapidly.

An emergency response source said that there were efforts underway to rescue people from the water. That source said it was possible the tanker had lost power before striking the American Heritage.

Images on social media showed the American Heritage on its side. It was docked on the Mississippi River outside the port of New Orleans’s administrative building when it was hit.