Boat explodes in Long Island canal, man on board suffers serious burns
ISLIP, N.Y. -- A Suffolk County man suffered serious burns when his boat exploded Thursday night in a canal.
Surveillance video shows the dramatic moment a sailboat bursts into flames, debris flying everywhere, while the owner was on board.
"I heard a loud boom, explosion, sounded like a bomb," said a witness named Gus, whose yacht was docked nearby. "Boom, echoed off the building. My ears were ringing."
He called 911.
"I came outside. I heard him yelling for help," Gus said.
At around 10:17 PM the Islip Fire Department was alerted to a report of a boat fire in the Orowoc Creek canal next to...
Posted by Islip Fire Department on Thursday, February 9, 2023
Fire officials say when emergency crews arrived, 44-year old Scott Murray was trapped in the cabin of the boat, underneath debris.
He had broken bones and serious burns and had to be airlifted to Stony Brook University Hosptial.
"He was kinda buried under some debris. Took him awhile to get out of there," Gus said.
It happened at a Suffolk County marina near Main Street in Islip.
Officials say the source was a leaking propane tank.
"He may have had something to warm up his engines, some kind of propane heater," Gus said.
While the sailboat, which was docked at the time, is destroyed, miraculously, Murray still has his life, and his friends are thankful.
"We work on the boats. We help each other. You know, it's a family down here," Gus said.
Murray remains in the hospital with serious burns but is expected to survive.
The investigation is ongoing.