Ship Crew’s Actions Before Crash Hailed

A quick-thinking crew may have narrowly averted what many feared when a freighter barreled into a riverfront stretch of stores, restaurants and hotel rooms: a disaster on the most dangerous part of the Mississippi River.

Rescue workers with dogs picked through the wreckage of the ritzy Riverwalk complex Sunday in search of anyone who might have been trapped or killed when the grain freighter tore through it Saturday.

“We’re pretty confident that, so far, there has been no loss of life,” Coast Guard Capt. Thomas Landvogt said.

Mayor Marc Morial said that of the 116 people treated at hospitals, many were injured in the panic that followed the crash. All but three were released.

Early reports of deaths were never confirmed, and those reported missing were later accounted for. At midday Sunday, there was no sign of bodies or trapped survivors in the pancaked wreckage or the murky river below.

“This is really an answer to this community’s Christmas prayer,” said Ron Brinson, executive director of the Port of New Orleans. “If we can get through this without any fatalities, we will consider ourselves very fortunate indeed.”

Much of the wreckage was still unstable and inaccessible because it was in danger of sliding into the river, Fire Chief Warren McDaniels said.

Authorities hope to stabilize the wreckage before anyone starts a more involved search, he said at a news conference.

That work will start today “at the earliest,” he said. “The building is in a precarious condition, and we’re not going to rush it.”

Also Sunday, the Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board began interviewing the ship’s crew. Joint NTSB-Coast Guard meetings on the accident were expected to begin Tuesday.

The Liberian-registered freighter Bright Field, operated by a Hong Kong company, apparently lost power about 2 p.m. as it headed downriver, just below the Crescent City Connection bridge leading from the foot of Canal Street to the suburbs on the West Bank.

With the emergency horn wailing and anchors dropped in a desperate attempt to stop, the helmsman managed to avoid two cruise ships holding about 1,700 people and crashed into the riverside mall near its central food court.

The 735-foot freighter came to rest just 70 feet from the Flamingo riverboat casino, which had 800 people aboard.

“When you see how he avoided those cruise ships and the casino, it was just beautiful work,” said Doc Hawley, a Mississippi pilot and for 20 years captain of the tourist paddle wheeler Natchez.

An estimated 1,000 people were in the mall, many of them holiday shoppers and people in town for high school football championship games. They scrambled to safety as two levels of the trilevel Riverwalk collapsed into the water.

The mayor said the ship took out a 200-foot section of the mall and a parking garage. The adjoining Hilton Hotel said 20 rooms had serious damage, but the hotel continued to operate.

Initial reports indicated that the freighter’s engine shut down because of “a lube-oil type situation,” said Brinson. He did not elaborate.

The Bright Field, held against the Riverwalk by tugboats, had a 15-foot hole in its bow, and part of the bow rested on the river bottom. Brinson said Sunday that it appeared the ship was holding up part of the structure.