May 29 (UPI) -- A boat fire at a marina on the Illinois River left at least 15 people injured on Memorial Day weekend.
The fire started around 4:26 p.m. on Saturday at Spring Brook Marina in Seneca, which is 73 miles southwest of Chicago, WMAQ-TV reported.
A photo provided to the outlet showed the vessel engulfed in flames as plumes of black smoke billowed into the sky.
Witnesses told WFLD that they could hear the explosion and thought it was fireworks for the holiday.
"We were at the pool, kids were swimming," said Stephanie Manzello.
"We just heard a loud boom. And we looked around. It's Memorial Day weekend, we thought maybe it was just fireworks. About 30 seconds later, that's when we saw gray smoke turn to black smoke."
A marina employee suffered non-life-threatening injured and the other 14 people injured were passengers - one of whom was airlifted to a local hospital with serious injuries, Illinois State Police officials said.
There were 17 people on the boat when the blaze erupted, police told WMAQ-TV. Officials said that there were several families on board and that the victims included "youth."
Illinois Conservation Police told WLS-TV that the boat was having engine problems and had returned to the marina to refuel. An explosion happened when they tried to start the engine after the fill-up.
