Freighter Plows Into New Orleans Mall; 60 Injured

A 64-ton freighter that lost power on the Mississippi River crashed into the Riverwalk shopping mall Saturday, injuring at least 60 people as panicked holiday shoppers and mall workers tried to flee.

The Coast Guard initially reported that six people were killed. Hours later, Mayor Marc Morial and the Coast Guard said no deaths had been confirmed, and rescue workers searched into the night for survivors.

The disaster, which occurred about 2 p.m. CST, was caused by a 734-foot Liberian-registered ship carrying a full load of grain, Morial said.

Witnesses said the river freighter, the Bright Field, lost power, which cut steering, and the pilot sounded the vessel’s horn about three minutes before it sliced bow-first into the part of the 180,000-square-foot metal-and-glass mall that extends over the river.

People in the mall, which has 200 shops and eateries, and gamblers on the Flamingo Casino riverboat docked nearby, watched in horror as the freighter missed the gambling ship and two cruise vessels carrying 1,700 passengers.

It then struck the mall’s food court area, which collapsed, falling 160 feet. After bouncing off the structure, the freighter came to a stop parallel to the sea wall with a 15-foot hole in its bow, 70 feet short of the Flamingo Casino that was docked in front of the Hilton Riverside Hotel.

The Port of New Orleans, one of the nation’s busiest, was closed to vessel traffic as rescue workers combed the area and the river for survivors.

Also damaged were the hotel, and the parking garage and exercise room of a luxury condominium building next door.

An investigation was underway, but New Orleans city and port authorities said the freighter was properly crewed and they credited the pilot with alerting people on shore to the impending crash.

Riverwalk is on a treacherous bend of the Mississippi, and there have been concerns for years as development grew that the area was vulnerable to just such an accident. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were en route to New Orleans on Saturday night, according to safety board spokesman Pat Cariseo in Washington.

Ron Brinson, president and director of the Port of New Orleans, said port police and Flamingo Casino security personnel were able to evacuate about 1,000 people from buildings in the area before the freighter hit the three-tiered mall.

Most of the injured were taken to Charity Hospital, a few blocks away, said Councilwoman Peggy Wilson, who visited the emergency room.

She said most of the injuries occurred as people were trampled in the panic, while others reported shortness of breath and chest pains related to the panicked evacuation.

Wilson, who viewed the disaster scene within half an hour after the crash, said that of the six people initially reported dead, five had been located.

Federal, state and local authorities were dispatched to the scene as the search and rescue operation went into the night. Rescue workers searched the rubble with heat-sensing equipment.

“The emphasis at this time is to search the disaster area to establish if any people remain in the rubble,” Morial said.

The New Orleans Fire Department, the Coast Guard and other agencies also searched on foot, in small boats and with dogs for possible victims. Officials said the search, conducted in the ruins and along the riverfront, was complicated by the mall’s continuing structural instability, making access to the area difficult.

City Councilman Oliver Thomas said the Riverwalk was devastated. “It’s almost like a pancake, about a football field long. Right where there was a wharf there is water now.”

What remained standing appeared ready to collapse. Shoppers and mall workers running from the area also reported smelling gas.

“The ground started shaking like an earthquake and everyone started running out,” said Wood Thomas, who was standing in the mall.

Despite the damage, the vessel was not taking on water and its position after the crash might be helping hold up the riverfront wall, officials said. There was no dollar estimate of the damage.

Times wire services contributed to this story.