Ship slams into New Orleans riverfront mall
Dozens of people injured
December 14, 1996
Web posted at: 10:10 p.m. EST
NEW ORLEANS (CNN) -- A freighter slammed into a packed riverfront mall in New Orleans Saturday. Panicked holiday shoppers and tourists jumped into the Mississippi River to escape. Others were trampled in the rush.
The Liberian-registered freighter, MV Bright Field, apparently lost its steering power and rammed into the Riverwalk shopping mall around 2:30 p.m. Thousands of people were at the mall at the time of the accident.
The impact collapsed four floors of the multi-tiered mall, a strip of stores and condominiums overlooking the Mississippi River. About 200 feet of the dock was destroyed.
The freighter's bow slammed into the dock between the Flamingo Casino boat and two cruise ships that were tied up at the dock. The ship's captain blew a distress signal moments before the crash, a warning that sent people scurrying.
"It was just panic. People were trying to get off the casino boat. People began jumping into the river," said Wood Thomas, who was standing in the mall at the time.
Sylvia Brooks also witnessed the crash. "People were falling down. People were picking up babies. People were crying."
The 700-foot freighter struck in the middle of the Riverwalk at Cafe du Monde. The cafe's walls collapsed, its girders twisted.
The Riverwalk opened in 1986 at a cost of $58 million. Stores include Abercrombie & Fitch, The Sharper Image, and Eddie Bauer.
The freighter was tied up after the crash, and several tugs worked to hold it in place. Other accidents have occurred in which boats have struck the riverfront but none was as devastating as Saturday's accident.
We were in New Orleans because Crowley High was playing in the state championship that weekend. We were standing near the waterfalls, in front of the Riverwalk Mall, and watched the entire thing. People were acting crazy. They were actually jumping off the boat, in between the boat and the riverwalk. Now the Riverwalk is solid, so if the freighter would have hit that boat, they would have been smashed.
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We were there too! Mom, Erica, and I were trying to walk into the mall but all these people were pouring out. Someone said that a boat had hit the mall, so we looked on the river-side and sure enough, there it was! Very surreal. I heard from people who lived in NO at the time that there were some pretty good sales to be had from the stores that had been damaged! I guess there is always a positive side! ha!
I remember going back to our hotel room and watching it on the news. We couldn't go into the mall because when the people were running out they were informing everyone that there was a gas leak.
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