‘This is real bad’: Witness reacts to Mississippi River ship collision

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB/Gray News) - Former Baton Rouge resident Devon Flanagan was working along the Mississippi River in New Orleans early Friday afternoon when a tanker reportedly struck the American Heritage river cruise paddleboat.

RELATED: Tanker crashes into river cruiser carrying nearly 150 people near Port of New Orleans, rescues underway

The American Heritage eventually tipped over, prompting a massive rescue effort.

Flanagan, who now lives in Metairie, Louisiana, said he saw the U.S. Coast Guard and New Orleans search and rescue teams quickly arrive at the scene. He shot multiple photographs and pieces of video that he shared with WAFB of the accident and the rescues.

“It was pretty frantic,” he said. “I did see quite a few people getting pulled out of the water. From what I saw, I think most people got off. By the time I started to walk up on it, it had officially sort of rolled over, and that’s when I realized it was more of an ‘Oh no, this is real bad.’”

Early reports indicated 129 passengers were on board.

Video shows the Atlantic Asphalt tanker hitting the paddlewheel cruise boat while it appeared to be docked, the Associated Press reported.