NARRAGANSETT, R.I., July 12 (UPI) -- A blast that nearby beachgoers likened to an explosion sent one woman to the hospital on Saturday, and forced officials in Rhode Island to evacuate Salty Brine State Beach.
Dave Dean, a local radio host, was at the beach swimming when the incident occurred. Shortly afterwards, he posted a video to Facebook warning his friends not to come.
"It felt like an earthquake, or gas explosion," said in the video. "Everyone who was in the water felt it."
Mario Lewis, a West Greenwich resident, told the Providence Journal that the blast felt and sounded like an M-80 or a "grenade boom."
The blast knocked a woman into the rocks. The unnamed victim was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment.
The beach was swarmed with law enforcement officials for the entirety of Saturday afternoon, with state police, local firemen, the state police bomb squad and officers with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management were first on the scene. They were joined by federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives officials.
An apparent suspect, accused of burying something in the sand before fleeing, was interviewed and released. Other reports of suspicious activity were briefly investigated, but officials failed to discover anything demanding further attention. On Saturday night, police said they were not looking for any suspects.
"Something did happen but we are not sure ... exactly what," Larry Mouradjian, the DEM's associate director for natural resources, told reporters on Saturday.
"You can see there was some ground force that happened in this immediate area,'' he said. But as to what caused it, "all I can tell you is I haven't been given any information that they found any evidence that indicates that there's any type of device ... yet we all realize something did happen."
After bomb squads failed to find any suspicious materials, officials decided the blast was not caused by any sort of mechanical device.
As of Sunday, the beach was reopened and once again filled with sun and surf seekers.
