The explosion occurred after the boat refueled near a seafood restaurant on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, authorities said
Credit: Office of the Maryland State Fire Marshal
NEED TO KNOW
- Nine people were injured in Maryland in a Fourth of July boat explosion
- The explosion occurred after the boat refueled near a seafood restaurant on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal
- Four people were airlifted to hospitals with serious burns, and five others were treated for smoke inhalation and other injuries
Nine people were injured in Maryland in a Fourth of July boat explosion.
According to the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office, the explosion took place on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal in Chesapeake City, located northeast of Baltimore near the Delaware border, just before 4:30 p.m. local time on Saturday, July 4.
The boat had just refueled on the water outside of a seafood restaurant, Schaefer's Canal House, when the blast occurred, injuring seven people on the boat and two workers on a nearby dock.
WMAR-2 News and the Baltimore Banner reported that the vessel was a 1988 Wellcraft 32-foot cruiser, citing information from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Fire officials, paramedics and several other local authorities responded to the scene. Four people were flown to area hospitals, and the others were taken from the scene via ambulance, the State Fire Marshal's Office said.
Credit: Office of the Maryland State Fire Marshal
Officials confirmed to WMAR and the Baltimore Banner that the people injured in the incident included a 16-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man from Elkton, Del., as well as a 31-year-old woman and a 31-year-old man from Newark, Del., who all sustained serious burns.
The two dock workers, an 18-year-old man and a 20-year-old man, were taken to a local hospital as a precaution because paramedics were concerned about smoke inhalation.
A 23-year-old person, a 21-year-old man and a 50-year-old man were also wounded, the Department of Natural Resources told the outlets.
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Photos shared by the fire marshal showed seats inside the boat scattered and ripped apart, though the outside of the vessel remained intact.
By 9 p.m. on Saturday, Deputy State Fire Marshals had cleared the scene. Officials said in a statement at the time that the exact cause of the explosion was still under investigation, but they had not ruled out a failure to turn on the fuel vapor blower fan or to allow it to properly exhaust after the refueling.
The incident is still under investigation, authorities said.
The accident in Maryland is just one of several boating accidents that have occurred across the U.S. over the holiday weekend.
In Wisconsin, three people were killed and several others were rescued after a boat capsized on Geneva Lake during a severe and sudden storm on Friday, July 3.
The three fatalities are believed to have been children, all under the age of 13, CBS Chicago reported. Of the 10 people on the boat, seven were rescued after the boat capsized, a spokesperson for the Walworth County Sheriff's Office confirmed to the outlet.
In Oregon, a woman died and four others were injured after a boat slammed into a dock structure on the Willamette River near Sauvie Island, located outside of Portland, on Saturday evening.
KOIN reported that the boat had washed ashore on Sauvie. The woman was declared dead at the scene, and the other three people had non-life-threatening injuries.
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