A good Samaritan pulled six people out of a burning boat in Huntington Harbour Sunday, officials said.
Firefighters were called to the boat fire near Peter’s Landing around 12:45 p.m., the Huntington Beach Fire Department said in a news release.
Six people were on the boat when it started burning. Witnesses described hearing a blast before the fire erupted, according to the Orange County Register.
Someone nearby got onto his dinghy and managed to pull up near the bow of the boat and pull the victims to safety, officials said. He then took them to a dock near Warner Fire Station.
Paramedics arrived and treated the six people, including four who ended up at local hospitals. Another injured person signed out against medical advice and the sixth refused care, fire officials said.
Five people — two men, a woman, a boy and a girl — were injured, Orange County sheriff’s Lt. Joe Cope told the Register. The sixth person on the boat, an adult, was not injured.
It remains unclear what caused the fire.
The boat was towed to nearby Sunset Aquatic Park, where fire investigators will be probing the vessel, officials said.
After the incident, the Fire Department urged recreational boaters to make sure children younger than 13 years wear an approved life jacket while on any moving vessel.