‘Her whole body hurts’: Victims recovering from weekend boat explosion

MIAMI — Several people are recovering after a boat explosion near the Haulover Sandbar on Saturday afternoon.

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Officials said 11 people were hospitalized following the sudden explosion that occurred around 2 p.m.

Jim Scott said getting the call that his wife Paola had been rushed to the hospital was unnerving, and the reason why was unexpected.

“Wy wife has burns over 50% of her body, on her stomach, and both legs, and right arm,” he said. “I am thinking car accident, last thing on my mind is a boat blew up. One of my wife’s friends doesn’t know how to swim, so she helped her to shore.”

That friend, 62-year-old Ruth Gutierrez, has since been discharged from the hospital.

Gutierrez returned to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital with her daughter Samantha Peña to visit her friends still recovering inside.

“She said her injury is minor compared to the rest, her right arm, a part of her body, back and hair was burned as well, she thinks the hat she was wearing covered and saved her face,” said Peña. “Her whole body hurts.”

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Gutierrez credits her friend Paola with saving her life.

“Her friend who is worse off than her helped her come back up to the boat,” said Peña, adding that her mother mentioned that she smelled gasoline before the explosion. “The only thing she remembers is that they were singing happy birthday, she said about the smell, and then a couple of minutes after, everything exploded. She remembers that someone replied and said that was a normal thing but she doesn’t know who was it.”

Added Scott: “They went to light a candle on the birthday cake and struck the match and then woo, it blew up.”

Seasoned boat captain Patrick Lee says he witnessed the explosion.

“A gasoline explosion is just, whoosh, quick and it is just terrible,” he said. “When we looked back out, we saw three people flying off the boat and a puff of smoke.”

Jackson Memorial Hospital staff are also caring for Adriana Rojas.

Her husband Anthony Torres said she is suffering from severe burn injuries.

“I know nine of them were submitted here, two of them got away without a scratch, which is a miracle and it is a miracle that no one was killed,” he said. “She was screaming, ‘Help me! Help me! I’m burned! The boat blew up! Help me! Help me!’”

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is actively investigating the cause of the explosion.

There has been no word on whether the boat captain or charter company will face any citations or charges.

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