A luxury yacht loaded with fireworks and reportedly around 1,000 rounds of ammunition burst into flames and sank in Marina del Rey late Wednesday, firefighters said. The 100-foot vessel, The Admiral, was engulfed in flames shortly after docking in the popular Southern California marina, about five miles from Santa Monica, according to KTLA5. The blaze broke out around 8:30 p.
m. and the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACFD) responded to calls regarding the incident shortly after. Fireworks could be seen shooting into the night sky as flames quickly engulfed the vessel.
The owner of the vessel told firefighters that the ammunition was aboard. The owner said the ammo was on the ship’s starboard side, Sky5 reporter Gil Leyvas reported. A pair of passengers evacuated the boat without harm, according to the LACFD.
The incident caused alarm. Local residents and visitors witnessed the fire, capturing videos of the fireworks amid a thick plume of black smoke. “I saw it fully engulfed in flames and like many of us living here, heard an explosion and saw fireworks coming off it, and more flames and then walked down here and captured video of it,” resident Lynn Rose told NBC Los Angeles.
Despite efforts by the LACFD to extinguish the fire, The Admiral continued to burn for nearly two hours. First responders deployed a floating boom to prevent diesel fuel and debris from contaminating the water, KTLA 5 reported. (RELATED: 40 Migrants Killed In Boat Fire Off Haitian Coast: REPORT) “It’s a delicate balance with putting the fire out and not sinking the boat, there are a lot of environmental hazards on the boat fuel oil what have you, and so we’re doing that delicate dance of putting the fire out but not sinking the vessel in the slip,” Captain Pono Barnes of LACFD lifeguard operations said.
The boat began to list before sinking into the marina around 10:30 p.m., according to Sky5.
Witnesses feared the flames might spread to nearby boats, but no further incidents were reported. Officials evacuated the dock as a precaution, according to the New York Post..
Officials are investigating the cause of the fire..
