Two killed, three injured in Long Beach boat fire: Fire department

(LONG BEACH, Calif.) — A boat fire in Long Beach, California, killed two people and injured three others, according to fire officials.

The fire broke out near the 200 block of Marina Dive at Alamitos Bay on a 35-foot pleasure craft on Saturday, the Long Beach Fire Department said.

The boat was near a fuel dock, fire officials said.

“The fire required multiple land-based and marine-based resources to extinguish the fire,” the Long Beach Fire Department said in a post on Facebook. “The fire has been extinguished, and resources continue to operate at the incident.”

The Long Beach Fire Department said five people were involved in the incident. The three surviving victims suffered burn-related injuries, and were treated and transported by paramedics to area hospitals.

Two women in their 60s died in the incident, authorities told ABC News Los Angeles station KABC.

The fire was extinguished with help from the Orange County Fire Authority, Long Beach fire officials said.

People aboard boats near the incident told KABC they heard a powerful blast. When firefighters arrived at the scene there were clouds of thick black smoke and flames.

“Initial reports indicated they were in the process of doing some type of refueling operation, or had just completed a fueling operation,” Long Beach Fire Department Capt. Jake Heflin said, according to KABC.

An investigation into what caused the fire is ongoing, authorities said.

Last month, two firefighters in New Jersey died while extinguishing a raging fire aboard a cargo ship docked in Newark.

The firefighters called in a “Mayday” after two of their own became trapped inside the burning vessel and were nowhere to be seen. That was followed by a second “Mayday” call 15 minutes later, Newark officials said at the time.

Two Newark firefighters — 45-year-old Augusta Acabou and 49-year-old Wayne Brooks — were ultimately found and subsequently taken to a hospital where they both died, according to city officials.

Three other firefighters from the Newark Fire Department, as well as two from the Elizabeth Fire Department, were injured during the incident, city officials said.

ABC News’ Aaron Katersky, Morgan Winsor, and Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.

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