Almost a dozen people, including two children, were hospitalized after an explosion of boats and a fire in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on the afternoon of the Fallen Day, authorities said.
The incident was reported around 5:45 pm on Monday near the New River Triangle, not far from Lauderdale Yacht Club in court 12 of the southeast.
Officials of the US Coast Guard. Uu said there were 13 people aboard the boat when there was an explosion.
“For reasons that we still do not know, a boat exploded, threw people into the water, the good Samaritans came immediately and began to rescue them,” said Fort Lauderdale Fire rescue spokesman Frank Guzmán. “It’s too early to know how this happened. We also have a fire researcher at the scene.”
The images of a surveillance chamber captured at the time the fireball broke out in the boat and showed several people spilling the water.
Guzman confirmed that there were 11 patients, including two children, who were initially taken to Broward Health Medical Center.
“Several of the patients had significant burns and are being transported to the Jackson Memorial Hospital, where they have a burning unit,” Guzman said. “Many of them had burns in much of their body.”
Jackson Memorial officials said they received 10 patients, including eight adults who were in good condition and two children who were in a fair state. A patient had to be intubated.
Antonio Rivero said he was with family members in the boat when he caught fire.
“I tried to feed the boat, and it must have been a gas leak and, you know, Spark left and explosion,” Rivero said. “One of the boys’ pants was fly, so it was bad.”
Rivero, 32, suffered burns in the arm, but his wife, Cassandra, and his two children remained hospitalized on Monday night.
“They are fine because they are in many medications, but apart from that they are fine,” he said.
At least one witness reported having seen an explosion and said they saw several people with burns injuries that were brought to the Yatht club docks.
The victims had burned legs and swimsuits that seemed torn and burned in pieces, said the witness.
Two other witnesses said they were in a boat on the sand bank when the boat exploded.
“When they started their boat, it simply exploded. There was a great fireball and people fell out of the boat,” Bret Triano said. “We were also in the sand bank and we just tried to help.”
Triano and Marisa Toomesn were able to rescue some of the victims.
“There were a couple of ships trying to pick up people and a guy simply was not collected, so we went to him,” Triano said. “I was screaming.”
“It was quite badly burned,” said Toomesn.
“He was saying: ‘Save me. Please, don’t let me die. I’m so hot, I need water,” Triano said. “He kept repeating: ‘I want water, I want water.'”
Chopper 6’s aerial images showed the Fort Lauderdale police, the United States Coast Guard, the Florida Fishing and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Broward Sheriff’s office that attended Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue.
The teams were seen examining the boat involved, which was tied to a nearby sea wall.
Guzman said the teams also rescued a dog that had been in the boat that was not injured.
FWC and Firefighters officials will investigate the cause of the explosion.
