TWO boaters escaped with minor injuries after a fire and a series of explosions on board their vessel at Sankey Marine in Evesham on Sunday.

The owners, a man and his son, had fled the boat after what is believed to have been a fuel vapour explosion caused the windows to blow out as well as the hatch leading to the engine compartment. There were then two further explosions when two LPG cylinders were caught in the fire.

Both were treated for superficial burns by paramedics at the scene before being taken by ambulance to Worcester Royal Hospital.

Firefighters from Evesham and Pershore got the call at about 1.40pm and on arrival saw a huge plume of black smoke coming from the boat.

Evesham station commander Toby Kempton said: “We quickly established that there were four LPG cylinders on board and that two had already exploded.

“We were concerned about the other two cylinders so our crews fought the fire from the riverbank using jets.”

A fire service boat also took to the water in order to direct passing boats to ensure they were a safe distance away from the vessel that was on fire.

This meant that when a third LPG cylinder exploded no one was caught in the blast radius.

Local firefighters then continued to fight the flames before the vessel sank a short while later.

The cooling effect of the water meant the fourth cylinder did not explode and the boat remained partially submerged this week.

Co-owner of Sankey Marine Doug Payne said: “I have never seen anything like this before, but this kind of thing does happen if you get fuel vapours down in the engine bay.

“We are pleased no one was seriously hurt and other boats were moved away very quickly.

We hope to have the boat out of the water in the next few days.”