The Deseret Morning News
LAKE POWELL, Utah — Six people were injured Friday when a gas-line leak led to a houseboat fire on Lake Powell, officials said. Glen Canyon National Recreation Area dispatchers began receiving 911 calls about the fire around 4 p.m. Friday.
When National Parks Service officials arrived at Gunsight Canyon on Lake Powell, the houseboat was “engulfed in flames” near the shore at Gunsight Butte, said Glen Canyon National Recreation Area spokesman Brian Sweatland.
Of the 10 to 16 people believed to be staying on the boat, six were transported to Wahweap Marina before being taken to area medical centers.
A 46-year-old man and 8-year-old boy had to be transported by helicopter to a burn center in Las Vegas, and four others were transported by ambulance to the hospital in Page, Ariz., Sweatland said.
Conditions of those injured were not immediately available Saturday afternoon.
It is believed the fire began when a line transporting gasoline between two containers “leaked gasoline into the boat’s engine compartment, causing an explosion,” Sweatland said in a news release issued Saturday.
Those on the boat were a “mix of adults and teens,” he said, and “multiple individuals were suffering from burns and other injuries.”
Those individuals who were uninjured were also transported to Wahweap Marina.
The privately owned houseboat, believed to be at least 65 feet long, was totally destroyed in the fire.
Copyright 2009 The Deseret News Publishing Co.