Collision involving riverboat and tanker near Port of New Orleans

If you could bring me up to date, all of us up to date on what we know about those passengers, did everybody make it out okay? Let me start there. Yeah, we do not know. I just spoke to Warren Ruther, who owns the Creole Queen, and his boat people picked up 12 people out the water. There was another vessel that picked up, I believe, three out the water. That's all we know right now. We don't know how many people Many of the people got off. Many of the people were elderly. So it's difficult getting them off under normal circumstances. So that boat list pretty quickly was making it very difficult. We're sure praying that everybody got off, but it's. It's possible that it could be many people that didn't make it off. I understand from an eyewitness that the boat appeared to lose power as it came under the Greater New Orleans Bridge and made a hard right to the dock in front of the Port of New Orleans Administration Building where the boat was docked. And so it appears that it must have lost power to make that hard right that took it right into the vessel. And that's unofficial, but that's what I'm getting from people that actually saw it happen there at the dock. So you're saying the asphalt tanker appeared to lose power and that's when it turned in and hit the riverboat? Yes, that's what it appears from the eyewitnesses on the site. We don't have any official response from the Coast Guard or any of the law enforcement on the scene yet, but that's what it appears from the people I've spoke with. So we're looking at video now and oh my goodness, Governor, it's heart-wrenching because you can actually see the riverboat capsizing and sinking. Do you know, first of all, I don't know if you've seen this or if you're able to see what we have on the air right now, but do you know if... If, um... People actually went down with the riverboat as it started to sink because you can actually see people on one of the decks there as the boat starts to sink. You know, I fear the worst because there were so many elderly people on that boat and even getting to the dock or to the exit where they could jump off the boat when that thing started listing would be very difficult. Those river cruises typically have a lot of elderly people on them that cruise up the Mississippi River. Those are not the vessels that go out to sea. Those are the river cruises that cruise up the Mississippi River. Always have a lot of elderly people, so I fear that it could be pretty bad. We're hoping everyone got off. But just by the number of people I'm hearing, they're pulling out the water, a dozen here, three here, having over 100 passengers on that boat. I'm really fearful that many didn't make it off, and we don't know anything for sure, but we're sure praying they did. Indeed. And, you know, I was trying from my time living there and taking these riverboat cruises, Governor, with my family, with friends who would come to visit. It's kind of what you did when you came to New Orleans and you wanted to head down the Mississippi. I mean, they're an incredible tourist attraction. Do you know, but I'm not, I don't know this riverboat specifically. This is the American Cruise Lines, American Heritage. Can you explain, do you know the name of this riverboat? Specifically, is it called the American Heritage? It's called, yeah, it's American Cruise Lines. And that is the name. The American Heritage is that boat. There's several that tour up the river from New Orleans. Some go as far, I believe, all the way up to Minnesota. There's two, three-week cruises, two-week cruises. And people flying from all over the world to take these cruises. So they're very popular and growing on the Mississippi River every year. Thank But like I said, a lot of those people are elderly. I've greeted a lot of them as they got off at tourist attractions at many stops in Louisiana. you And many of them are elderly. So that's what really concerns me about their ability very to get off this boat as it begins to list to one side. It really concerns me. much.