Police: Cause Of Rhode Island Beach Boom May Never Be Known
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (CBS/AP) — Investigators say there may never be an explanation about what happened on a Rhode Island beach when a mysterious boom was heard and a woman was thrown into a rock jetty.
State police Col. Steven G. O'Donnell said Monday that investigators have found no physical evidence of an explosion at Salty Brine beach in Narragansett.
O'Donnell says the state's fire marshal is investigating other possible causes, like seismic events.
A marine engineer says there may be an answer right under our noses.
"It's a smell you can't miss when you drive by the extensive deposits of exposed peat on Cape Cod, and salt marsh deposits. You can't help but smell that distinctive odor of that gas," said Roger Michniewicz of Coastal Engineering Company, Inc.
Many beaches in New England have peat under the sand from years ago, when they were part of salt marshes. Erosion has now brought some of the peat near the surface, where oxygen reaching it could theoretically create a small explosion.
"It's a highly organic material and due to normal decomposition, when it's exposed to the environment it produces methane gas," said Michniewicz.
Witnesses say 60-year-old Kathleen Danise was thrown 10 feet into a rock jetty Saturday after a loud bang. Danise's family says she suffered two fractured ribs and bruising. She was released from the hospital Sunday and returned to her home in Waterbury, Connecticut.
She spoke to WBZ-TV on Sunday.
"The last thing I remember was reading my book," Danise said.
Danise's sister, Laura DeMartino, returned to the site on Sunday and recounted the terrifying moments.
"There was a massive bang and I see the actual rocks shift and move," DeMartino said. "I started screaming, 'Get up, get up!' The same time I'm screaming, the sand erupted and threw my sister from there — a live cannon, face down, unconscious, 10 feet away."
The beach was reopened Sunday after officials found no evidence of an explosive device or gas line under the sand.
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