OCEAN PINES–Four people were taken to hospitals following a boat explosion Sunday in Ocean Pines. A fifth person was treated at the scene.
Boat owner Neal Edwards of Springfield , Va., told investigators he was ready to take some people for a ride in his 24-foot-long boat at about 2 p.m. In preparation, he opened all of the hatches and started the blowers to vent gasoline fumes that might have accumulated, said Candy Thomson, public information officer for the Maryland Natural Resources Police, on Monday. The blowers were on for 10 or 15 minutes, he told investigators.
He then went to the house to get a cooler and to round up his passengers, his wife, Bonnie, their daughter, Shannon, and friends Dawn Van Deursen and Larry McPherson, both of Escondido, Calif.
When all were aboard, he started the boat’s engine, put it in reverse and then put it in forward. That’s when the explosion occurred.
The boat’s hull remained intact, and all aboard either jumped out or were expelled from the boat, Thomson said.
“Neighbors heard the explosion, ran out and pulled people out of the water,” Thomson said.
Patrick McAllorum, who lives three doors down, had been walking his dog when the explosion happened.
“I heard it big time,” McAllorum said. “The whole neighborhood rocked with the explosion and I saw big, black smoke.”
McAllorum ran to the scene and saw people on the lawn. Other neighbors had already pulled them from the water, so McAllorum took a hose and squirted the burning boat with water. Realizing his effort was futile, he ran back to his house, got his camera and took a few photos of the boat.
Van Deursen and MacPherson were flown to the Bay View Burn Center at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore to be treated for burns to their legs and arms. They had the most serious injuries because they were seated in the rear of the boat, where the explosion occurred.
Neal and Bonnie Edwards were taken to Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, where they were treated and released. Shannon Edwards was treated at the scene and required no hospitalization because she was seated on the bow, the farthest away from the explosion.
“It was all a matter of where they were seated,” Thomson said.
Members of the Ocean Pines Volunteer Fire Department extinguished the fire and a HazMat crew arrived to contain the gasoline spill and to clean up the debris field so it would not be a hazard to navigation.
The boat’s interior was completely destroyed and the boat’s starboard side was burned to the water line, Thomson said.
The Worcester County Fire Marshal’s Office and the Natural Resources Police were investigating the incident.
Boat owner Neal Edwards of Springfield , Va., told investigators he was ready to take some people for a ride in his 24-foot-long boat at about 2 p.m. In preparation, he opened all of the hatches and started the blowers to vent gasoline fumes that might have accumulated, said Candy Thomson, public information officer for the Maryland Natural Resources Police, on Monday. The blowers were on for 10 or 15 minutes, he told investigators.
He then went to the house to get a cooler and to round up his passengers, his wife, Bonnie, their daughter, Shannon, and friends Dawn Van Deursen and Larry McPherson, both of Escondido, Calif.
When all were aboard, he started the boat’s engine, put it in reverse and then put it in forward. That’s when the explosion occurred.
The boat’s hull remained intact, and all aboard either jumped out or were expelled from the boat, Thomson said.
“Neighbors heard the explosion, ran out and pulled people out of the water,” Thomson said.
Patrick McAllorum, who lives three doors down, had been walking his dog when the explosion happened.
“I heard it big time,” McAllorum said. “The whole neighborhood rocked with the explosion and I saw big, black smoke.”
McAllorum ran to the scene and saw people on the lawn. Other neighbors had already pulled them from the water, so McAllorum took a hose and squirted the burning boat with water. Realizing his effort was futile, he ran back to his house, got his camera and took a few photos of the boat.
Van Deursen and MacPherson were flown to the Bay View Burn Center at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore to be treated for burns to their legs and arms. They had the most serious injuries because they were seated in the rear of the boat, where the explosion occurred.
Neal and Bonnie Edwards were taken to Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, where they were treated and released. Shannon Edwards was treated at the scene and required no hospitalization because she was seated on the bow, the farthest away from the explosion.
“It was all a matter of where they were seated,” Thomson said.
Members of the Ocean Pines Volunteer Fire Department extinguished the fire and a HazMat crew arrived to contain the gasoline spill and to clean up the debris field so it would not be a hazard to navigation.
The boat’s interior was completely destroyed and the boat’s starboard side was burned to the water line, Thomson said.
The Worcester County Fire Marshal’s Office and the Natural Resources Police were investigating the incident.