Multiple people were injured in an explosion aboard a boat at the Edgewater Marina on Sunday evening.
Seven of the eight people on the boat were injured and taken to J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital, according to West Virginia Division of Natural Resources Police Spokesman Lawrence Messina.
Two of the people on the boat are from Morgantown and the other six are from Washington, Pa., Messina said. Two of the victims were then flown to a burn treatment center in Pennsylvania.
“The boat had just refueled at Edgewater Marina when its operator attempted to start the engine of the Crownline watercraft at around 6:40 p.m., and the explosion occurred,” Messina said.
The vapors from the fuel were ignited when the engine was started, Cheat Lake Volunteer Fire Department Chief Jason Christopher said.
“It’s not what you’re thinking of in the movies,” Christopher said. “It was nothing like that.”
He described it as more of a “flash fire” similar to releasing fuel from a lighter into a closed fist then lighting it.
The fuel tank did not rupture and the boat still has a full tank of gas, Christopher said.
The Cheat Lake VFD helped prepare patients for transport and extinguished several small fires on the boat.
The WV DNR Police are continuing to investigate, Messinsa said.
