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The National Transportation Safety Board is dispatching a team to figure out why a tanker crashed into a paddleboat cruise ship yesterday in New Orleans. The tanker hit the ship broadside, causing it to list and sink. Emergency personnel rescued nearly 200 passengers and crew with no casualties. Mel Bridges, with member station WWNO, was at the site of the accident and has more.
MEL BRIDGES, BYLINE: Shortly after noon, the Atlantic Asphalt tanker took a sudden turn and drifted into the American Heritage cruise ship, which was docked at the port of New Orleans. Its passengers had started to disembark.
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HELENA MORENO: But while that was happening, the cruise ship began to sink. And then eventually, the cruise ship toppled over and flipped.
BRIDGES: That's New Orleans mayor Helena Moreno at a press conference at the port yesterday. She said people ended up in the water.
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MORENO: I have to just completely thank our first responders. It was an all-hands-on-deck approach, with Harbor police responding first with just tremendous bravery, going into the water even to start pulling people out.
BRIDGES: She says other ships in the port volunteered and also rescued people out of the water. Harbor police had jumped on board and helped with the evacuation as the cruise ship lay on its side. It took about 45 minutes to rescue everyone. Thirty passengers and two police officers had to be taken to the hospital, but none in critical condition. Moreno said she visited with passengers and crew before the press conference.
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MORENO: We have zero people unaccounted for, which truly is a miracle on the Mississippi.
BRIDGES: Officials don't yet know why the tanker lost its course. They say it may have been a loss of steering. The NTSB and the Coast Guard will lead the investigation. Governor Jeff Landry stressed that the busy Mississippi River is a safe way to travel and called this a freak accident.
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JEFF LANDRY: We are going to get down to the bottom of exactly what happened here and make sure that we make any adjustments necessary so that the people that travel on the waterways here can know that they can do so in safety.
BRIDGES: Landry says the passengers may be stranded in New Orleans for a while because of the investigation, lost documents and last night's flight groundings. State officials say they'll make sure all passengers are taken care of.
For NPR News, I'm Mel Bridges in New Orleans. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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