A Manitoba couple attempting their first try at boating on Lake Winnipeg now has bandages wrapped over their burns after a small explosion on their boat.
At around 2:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon, Steve MacDuff, his wife Ruth, their son, and two friends pulled their boat up to the Gimli Harbour to fill the boat with fuel.
A member of the party hit the ‘engine blower’ switch and apparently ignited some fumes still present within the boat’s cabin.
“That’s when all hell broke loose,” said Chuck Whittingham, Assistant Harbour Master in Gimli, who was standing just three feet away.
“There was a flash. There was no flame. There was the explosion yes, and the shockwave of it, I felt that on my legs.”
“There was no flame but obviously I got burnt somehow,” said MacDuff with white bandages wrapped around his right arm and leg. He told Global News he suffered first and second-degree burns in the blast. MacDuff said his wife suffered more severe injuries, including third-degree burns to her knees.
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The blast came from the engine compartment, and was contained mainly to the cabin. But it was enough to singe the MacDuffs.
“It was so fast. It was just like poof! The lid pops open, we’re both standing on it, and lifted us up about 8 inches off the floor,” said MacDuff
No one else was hurt. A large crowd gathered around the injured couple. Many witnesses praised the the local Coast Guard for its quick response. About five minutes after the explosion, an ambulance took them to Gimli Hospital. RCMP responded within the hour.
Transport Canada regulations require boaters to ‘run the engine compartment blower for at least four minutes immediately before starting the gasoline engine’.
Whittingham, who oversees the fuelling process, said all safety procedures were followed correctly. Whittingham did not know what caused the fumes to ignite or where the fumes came from, but likened the explosion to a barbeque being lit with too much propane in the vacinity. It’s believed there was an ‘electrical shortage’ caused when the ‘engine compartment blower’ switch was engaged, but no official cause has been released.
“Actually I’ve heard a few times about a blower that ignited boats before. It’s a pretty common thing apparently,” said Kobi Hasid, a local boater.
Boat explosions weren’t just limited to Gimli on Saturday. A power boat blew up in an Oakville, Ontario marina the same afternoon injuring three people. The cause is under investigation.
Meanwhile, Macduff said until he learns why his boat ignited, the MacDuffs won’t be setting sail on Lake Winnipeg.
“My wife and I aren’t going out again till we know (what happened).”
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