ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 16, 1996 TAG: 9612160099
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW ORLEANS
SOURCE: Associated Press
A quick-thinking crew may have narrowly avoided 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 116 people were treated at hospitals - many 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 hoped to stabilize the wreckage before anyone starts a more involved search, he said at a news conference.
That work would 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.
Emergency horn wailing, anchors dropped in a desperate attempt to stop, the helmsman managed to avoid two cruise ships holding some 1,700 people and crashed into the riverside mall near its central food court.
The 735-foot freighter - the length of two football fields - came to rest just 70 feet from the Flamingo riverboat casino with 800 gamblers 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 tri-level Riverwalk collapsed into the water. Most of the injuries were broken bones suffered in the flight; some people were reported trampled, while a few jumped into the water from the riverfront and the gambling boat.
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 the freighter's engine shut down because of ``a lube-oil type situation,'' said Brinson. He did not elaborate.
The Coast Guard said the river was very high in the area and had been since Thanksgiving. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Timothy Josiah said traffic had occasionally been limited for safety. The river was closed to traffic in the area after the accident.
More than 400 barges, tugs, freighters and military ships daily traverse the bend, which lent New Orleans its nickname of the Crescent City. The Coast Guard said about 100 of them lose power each year while moving through the Port of New Orleans.
``It's the busiest and most treacherous stretch of the river,'' said Coast Guard Lt. Verne Gifford.
The river takes a turn of more than 90 degrees and the current reaches up to 10 mph, he said. ``On top of that you have traffic going upstream, downstream, and back and forth across the river.''
Rep. Billy Tauzin, D-La., held a meeting of the U.S. House Coast Guard and Navigation subcommittee in 1993 at which shipping officials opposed adding casino boats to the mix.
``It's a very dangerous river, next to a very populous community,'' he said after the accident Saturday. ``We need to be constantly on guard.'
A Michigan tourist who was gambling on the Flamingo said no one moved when the freighter's horn first sounded. Then someone shouted, ``Get off the boat!''
``When I got to the edge, I could see this big, huge tanker crashing into Riverwalk,'' said Mike Dunnuck.
``The people who were trying to stop and watch - they got knocked down. Without a shadow of a doubt it was one hell of a welcome to New Orleans.''
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Investigators look over the side of the Bright Fieldby CNBat the destruction caused by Sunday's freighter accident.