St. Kitts Nevis: A party boat docked at the Port Zante marina in downtown Basseterre was completely destroyed in a mid-morning fire yesterday, according to The St. Kitts Nevis Observer report.
The Observer stated that an official at the Basseterre Fire Department said that they received a call just after 10:00hrs reporting a boat fire in the downtown bay area.
He said upon arrival the unit met a 24ft fiberglass boat named La Pinta Express on fire. The private boat was at the time docked at the pier engulfed in flames with billows of dark smoke clouds extending high above the craft. Before the men could begin trying to oust the fire, they received another call about a residential fire elsewhere, according to the Observer report.
“We received a report that there was a house fire in Prickley Pear Alley and left the marina to respond. Upon arrival at Prickley Pear Alley we discovered the report had been false and quickly returned to Port Zante,” the Fire officer informed.
He told The Observer the officers then began to extinguish the fire, however they retreated after a few minutes after the responding Coastguard and Chief Security Officer for the port instructed them to cease efforts. All vessels within close proximity of the burning craft were relocated and the only damage was some charring to where the boat was hitched to the pier.
“The boat had been full of fuel which continued to leak onto the water’s surface. The Coastguard and Chief Security Officer told us to let it burn out since it was in a contained area and because of the leaking fuel,” he explained.
After about 5 minutes, he said, the boat had completely burned out and sank.
The Observer said that the boat’s owner, Alexis “Straddie” Hazel, was present while the fire blazed, as were many spectators.
The Fire Department said the cause of the fire was “not yet determined and investigations are ongoing”.
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