Boat explodes into flames on Mississippi River; no one injured

A yacht exploded into flames Sunday on the Mississippi River, but no one was killed or injured in the incident, authorities said Monday.

The Inver Grove Fire Department responded to the fire at 1:30 p.m. Sunday and were told by witnesses that the owner of the boat had just fueled up and started the boat when there was a boom. Seeing flames, a fueling attendant hit the emergency shut-off on the gas pumps and people tried unsuccessfully to put out the fire with an extinguisher, the fire department said.

The boat drifted near a bridge, which also caught fire. Firefighters put out the fire on the bridge and the boat before the boat sank, the fire department said. The bridge reopened Monday.

Other than the fire, authorities reported a relatively quiet holiday weekend on Minnesota's waterways. No boating-related fatalities or drownings were reported as of Monday.

Memorial Day weekend is usually one of the busiest boating weekends of the year. So far this year, there have been seven drownings and three boating-related deaths, some of the earliest fatalities on record for the season.

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