CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – A shrimp boat, The Bridget, which participated in the annual Blessing of the Fleet Festival in Mount Pleasant caught fire and sank Sunday.
Fire officials say one patient from the fire is being treated at the Medical University of South Carolina. Details on their condition are unknown at this time.
Mount Pleasant Fire Department (MPFD) crews responded to a dock off Bennett Street for a boat fire at 12:59 p.m.
Fire officials say the blaze started in the boat and the captain tried to control it before having to drive the vessel into the mud near the shoreline.
While the boater was working to put out the fire he sustained injuries. When fire crews arrived, they found the captain in mud, got the captain onto shore and transported him to the hospital.
The fire was extinguished by dragging hoses down a nearby dock. The boat sank as a result of the blaze.
Rocky Magwood, a fourth-generation Charleston shrimper, said he parked his shrimp boat and rushed back in a smaller outboard to help.
He pulled the captain’s son from the water while firefighters retrieved everyone else.
Magwood said that Captain Cobb suffered burns to his hands.
Land and boat crews from MPFD, Mount Pleasant Police, Charleston Police, and North Charleston Police worked the incident.
The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources has taken over the investigation and recovery efforts.
