Early on Friday, June 13, a boat explosion rocked a quiet cove on the South River. The two watermen aboard survived, but had to be rushed to a burn center 45 minutes away.
The Anne Arundel County Fire Department says they received an emergency call just before 6:45 a.m. Friday reporting that a small vessel had possibly exploded, causing a fire. The department responded from Avalon Shores in South County with their brand new fireboat, Miss Avalon, which was just christened three days earlier.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police also responded to the call for a vessel fire in the South River with two people on board. They arrived to find the 26-foot crabbing boat “actively burning in Limehouse Cove” as the county fire department fought the flames.
A waterfront homeowner in the area described “the explosion of a small watercraft” as being just 900 yards from her deck. She said the blast almost blew her screen door open.
Officers learned that, thankfully, the watermen were no longer on board; a nearby waterman had rescued them and brought them to an Edgewater home. Anne Arundel County emergency medical responders did initial evaluations on the two men, a a 58-year-old from Jarrettsville and a 60-year-old from Glen Rock, Pennsylvania.
The Anne Arundel County Fire Department transported both patients to Johns Hopkins Bayview Hospital’s burn center in Baltimore with serious injuries. Both men have been released from the hospital.
Natural Resources Police say the cause of the fire hasn’t been determined and is still under investigation.
