11 hospitalized, including 2 kids, after boat explosion in Florida
Nearly a dozen people, including two children, were hospitalized after a boat explosion and fire in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Memorial Day evening, officials said.
The incident was reported around 5:45 p.m. Monday near the New River Triangle, not far from the Lauderdale Yacht Club on Southeast 12th Court.
U.S. Coast Guard officials said there were 13 people on board the boat when there was an explosion.
'For reasons that we don't know yet, a boat exploded, it tossed people into the water, good Samaritans came over right away and started rescuing them,' Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue spokesman Frank Guzman said. 'It's too soon to know how this happened. We have a fire investigator on scene, as well.'
Footage from a surveillance camera captured the moment the fireball erupted on the boat, and showed multiple people spilling into the water.
Guzman confirmed there were 11 patients, including two children, who were initially taken to Broward Health Medical Center.
'A number of the patients had significant burns and are being transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where they have a burn unit,' Guzman said. 'A lot of them had burns to much of their body.'
Officials at Jackson Memorial said they received 10 patients, including eight adults who were in good condition and two children who were in fair condition. One patient had to be intubated.
Antonio Rivero said he was with family members on the boat when it went up in flames.
'Tried to fuel up the boat, and must have been a gas leak and, you know, spark went off and explosion,' Rivero said. 'One of the guys' pants were blown off, so it was bad.'
Rivero, 32, suffered burns to his arm, but his wife, Cassandra, and their two children remained hospitalized Monday night.
'They're OK because they're on a lot of meds, but other than that they're fine,' he said.
At least one witness reported seeing an explosion and said they saw multiple people with burn injuries who were brought to the yacht club docks.
The victims had burned legs and bathing suits that appeared ripped and burned to shreds, the witness said.
Two other witnesses said they were on a dinghy at the sandbar when the boat exploded.
'When they went to start their boat up, it just exploded. There was a huge fireball and people were kind of falling off the boat,' Bret Triano said. 'We were at the sandbar too and we just tried to go help out.'
Triano and Marisa Toomesn were able to rescue some of the victims.
'There were a couple boats trying to pick people up and one guy just didn't get picked up so we went over to him,' Triano said. 'He was screaming.'
'He was burned pretty badly,' Toomesn said.
'He was saying, 'Save me. Please, don't let me die. I'm so hot, I need water,'' Triano said. 'He just kept repeating, 'I want water, I want water.''
Aerial footage from Chopper 6 showed Fort Lauderdale Police, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Broward Sheriff's Office assisting Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue.
Crews were seen examining the boat involved, which was tied up to a nearby sea wall.
Guzman said crews also rescued a dog that had been on the boat that wasn't injured.
The FWC and fire officials will investigate the cause of the explosion.
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Above this tattoo, he has the date 1775 in roman numerals - the same year that the American War of Independence started. Hegseth's elbow is surrounded by 13 stars which perhaps is a reference to the stars on the Betsy Ross flag - one of the first flags produced to represent the USA and the precursor to the modern star-spangled banner. 'Join or Die' snake on inside of his forearm He also has the iconic 'join or die' snake, which is earliest known pictorial representation of colonial union produced by colonists in Colonial America, on his arm. The cartoon, allegedly drawn by Benjamin Franklin himself in 1754, was published in the Pennsylvania Gazette shows a snake chopped into eight segments - rather than the 13 colonies - with New England included as one, Delaware a part of Pennsylvania and Georgia missing entirely. American flag and sniper rifle on the upper arm Hegseth also has a modern depiction of the current flag with a sniper at the bottom of the stars and stripes, signaling his support for the Second Amendment of the Constitutional preserving the right to keep and bear arms. Hegseth posted a picture of him receiving the body art on his Instagram at NYHC Tattoos in New York which is one of the oldest tattoo parlors in Manhattan. Infantry Regiment patch also on the upper arm Hegseth also has a tattoo of his patch used by the 187th Infantry Regiment of the US army which Hegseth was a member of. This was a glider infantry unit during the Second World War which later fought in the Korean War as part of the airborne regimental combat team. The regiment also fought in later wars such as Vietnam, the Gulf war and the Iraq war. During his interview with the Big Lead, Hegseth revealed he plans to fill his entire arm with tattoos and then 'resist the temptation' to get anymore.
