Costa del Sol 'tourist boat' explosion horror as people rushed to hospital

Eight people have been injured in an explosion on a "tourist boat" in the Costa del Sol resort of Fuengirola.

Three of the casualties have sustained what are being described as serious injuries and have been taken to hospital. The incident occurred as the motorboat, described locally as a tourist boat, was leaving the marina in the Spanish town.

It is not yet clear whether any British nationals were among those hurt. Footage from the scene showed firefighters in the marina dousing the flames with hoses from the closest point on dry land after locals on jet skis and other boats went to the aid of the stricken passengers and helped try to put out the fire.

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The alarm was sounded around 12.20pm this afternoon with several witnesses calling the emergency services as a black plume of smoke rose into the air which was clearly visible from nearby beaches. The cause of the explosion is not clear.

A fisherman working in the area told a local paper: "It was an open boat made of polyester, which is a very bad combination with fuel because it burns very quickly." The boat sank as a result of the fire on board. The area where the incident happened has now been sealed off as an investigation gets underway.

This afternoon, Fuengirola Town Hall said in a statement: "The Rescue and Lifesaving Service, the Fire Department, and the Local Police of Fuengirola, as well as the Civil Guard, responded today to a fire on a boat sailing in the marina, near the mouth of the harbour. For reasons which are still unclear there was an explosion and the boat caught fire. Within minutes, rescue workers from the Rescue Service reached the crew and brought them to safety.

"A total of eight people were on board. All of them were injured, three of them seriously, and they were placed in the care of emergency medical responders. As a result of the explosion, the boat sank and officials from the Andalusian Ports Agency are closely monitoring the situation to assess the need for anti-spill measures."

Four Brits were rescued after their motor yacht caught fire before sinking off the Menorcan capital Mahon in September last year. The blaze broke out in the engine room before spreading rapidly to the rest of the vessel.

Dramatic footage released at the time showed coastguards who went to the rescue trying to put out the fire with high-pressure water jets as a huge plume of black smoke rose into the air. Emergency responders had initially planned to tow the 40ft boat to Mahon Port so firefighters could tackle the blaze with more sophisticated equipment. But coastguards eventually decided to take it further out to sea to minimise the risk of explosion before it sank.

In June last year a British couple were injured in a boat explosion in Majorca. They were rushed to hospital with second-degree burns following the incident on June 16 in the Port of Palma. The 44-year-old man and 30-year-old woman were said to have been handling the engine of a Zodiac-type semi-rigid boat when the blast occurred and sent them flying into the water.

Another vessel alongside it also ended up catching fire as a result. As well as burns to their face and arms, the injured pair also suffered less serious burns to other parts of their body.

Five days earlier a British holidaymaker was among three people injured when a boat exploded in a pleasure port in Cabo Roig near Torrevieja on the Costa Blanca. The 37-year-old was rushed to Torrevieja Hospital along with a 31-year-old Lithuanian woman after suffering facial burns.

A third person, a Spanish man aged 34, was airlifted to a hospital in Valencia after suffering severe burn injuries. Police described the incident as an accident afterwards but said at the time they were still investigating.

Footage showed concerned Good Samaritans rushing towards the spot where the explosion occurred after seeing a ball of flames rise into the air. The unnamed Spanish man, the most seriously injured of the three casualties, was described locally as a workman who was cleaning the vessel. He suffered serious burns to the bottom half of his body.