MIAMI (WSVN) - On Saturday evening, a boat explosion occurred near the Haulover Sandbar in Miami-Dade, leaving more than a dozen people to be rescued.“My...
On Saturday evening, a boat explosion occurred near the Haulover Sandbar in Miami-Dade, leaving more than a dozen people to be rescued.
“My buddy, who’s a fisherman, was going by, and he said he just heard a boom. You know, it’s a real quick thing because all of that ignites right at once,” said witness Patrick Lee.
Witnesses on the scene described the incident.
“That’s a pretty bad scene. It was an explosion in the bilge of the boat,” said a nearby witness.
The boat blast drew the attention of nearby witnesses.
“When we looked back out, we saw three people flying off the boat and a puff of smoke,” said Lee.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue was called just after 12:45 p.m. Saturday.
“We just got a possible boat explosion at the field dock. Multiple people in the water,” said the police radio.
Lee, who works at a commercial slip in Haulover Marina, shared what he saw in the moments leading up to the explosion and believes it could have been avoided.
“As people got on board, and he turned the key, and didn’t open the hatches, and didn’t turn on the blowers, and he blew people out of the boat,” said Lee.
Over 25 Miami-Dade Fire Rescue units, along with Ocean Rescue and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, rushed to the scene, where they found 15 patients.
Due to the severity of the number of people needing treatment and the need for additional resources, the call was upgraded to a level two mass casualty incident.
“Very, very, very chaotic, they were trying to figure out if people were still in the water. The lucky thing it wasn’t far enough away that they couldn’t get to land,” said a nearby witness.
“Injuries were from burn injuries to some traumatic injuries,” said Battalion Chief Juan Arias, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.
Multiple ambulances pulled into Ryder Trauma Center as 11 people were rushed in for treatment.
“I just saw a lot of them with burns all over them,” said Lee.
At Haulover Marina, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, the US Coast Guard, and FWC were on scene as they worked to piece together what occurred.
“It’s obvious he didn’t do what procedures are called for, and many rookie captains don’t,” said Lee.
Just before 6 p.m. Saturday, the boat was towed away.
As of Saturday night, the victims have been receiving treatment at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
FWC said this is an active investigation.
Officials have not yet said what the update is for those people who were taken to the hospital.
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