A yacht exploded Monday at a port in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, killing one person and injuring five others, according to authorities.
Just before 6 p.m., Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue received many 911 calls of an explosion on a ship at the Lauderdale Marina. When they got there, they discovered a large fire on one ship that swiftly spread to another.
According to officials, three of the five individuals who were sent to neighboring hospitals had significant injuries. Divers reportedly looked through the water for a single person who had gone missing following the explosion. Later, the victim was discovered dead by the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
An EarthCam feedset up at the marina caught the explosion. The boat’s explosion and more than three minutes of the aftermath are captured on camera. As the boat fire spreads and black smoke rises into the sky, people can be seen rushing up and down the dock.
“My family and I were on a boat directly behind the one that exploded,” Maria Sanz told NBC NewsSouth Florida.
“When I turned, I saw that it was a boat, but I initially believed it was a firework. A lot of smoke was seen,” she stated. “I was screaming, screaming, screaming, and they told us we had to get out right away.”
Sanz told NBC South Florida that when the fire reached their boat, her family was attempting to assist in rescuing people from the water in contravention of those orders.
“My cousin was kneeling in front of the boat, so I ran to her and I saw that she was holding on to a girl, and the girl was kind of drowning,” she recalled. “She was trying to put her head up so she wouldn t drown.”
Sanz claimed that she attempted to throw a rope to another victim in the water after turning around.
“I saw that a guy was kind of fighting, trying not to drown,” she continued. “I got off the boat, ran to the dock and started throwing a rope and I was screaming.”
Sanz informed NBC South Florida that her own yacht caught fire during this time.
“It started coming towards us, so the front part and side were starting to get on fire while we were still trying to get these people out of the water,” she continued.
The U.S. Coast Guard, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Broward Sheriff’s Office, and the Fort Lauderdale Police Department are among the authorities coordinating their investigation efforts to ascertain the source of the explosion. According to fire officials, investigators will have a better understanding of what transpired once the vessels have been taken out of the water and can be investigated more thoroughly.
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