Boat explodes in Costa Blanca, injuring three

Images caught on CCTV show the moment a boat exploded in a port in Costa Blanca, Spain, seriously injuring three people.

A 37-year-old British holidaymaker was taken to Torrevieja Hospital yesterday (11 June 2024) along with a 31-year-old Lithuanian woman who was reportedly burned on the face. A 34-year-old Spanish man was airlifted to a hospital in Valencia after suffering severe burns.

The British man is understood to have been a customer of a rental firm that was chartering the faulty boat, and the unnamed Spanish man — the most seriously injured of the three — is understood to be a workman who was cleaning the vessel at the time of the incident.

Moment pleasure boat explodes in fireball at Costa Blanca holiday resort injuring Brit, 37, and two others https://t.co/RydNQOc94P pic.twitter.com/3CmHyGNbbD

— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) June 12, 2024

The blast occurred at a port in Cabo Roig, a resort town just south of Torrevieja in the Orihuela Costa area of the Costa Blanca. Firefighters were called, but the flames had died down by the time they arrived.

Footage shared on social media shows several good samaritans rushing toward the boat after flames rose from the port.

A spokesman for the Civil Guard said: “An emergency response coordination centre received the alert just before 10am yesterday. The calls that came in said there had been a possible explosion on a pleasure boat in Cabo Roig port.

“Civil Guard officers based in nearby Pilar de la Horadada confirmed there had been an accidental explosion that had left three people injured when they arrived.

“They were a British man and a Lithuanian woman who were taken to Torrevieja Hospital and a Spanish man who was airlifted to Hospital de la Fe in Valencia.

“An investigation into the incident is ongoing.”

Spanish police have told media they are treating the incident as an accident and are investigating the possibility that the explosion was caused by engine failure or a fuel spill.