Boat Explosion In Anne Arundel County Hospitalizes 2: Officials

EDGEWATER, MD — Officials said a crabbing boat exploded Friday morning in Edgewater, sending two men to a hospital with serious injuries. Both have since been released from the hospital.

The explosion was reported just after 6:40 a.m. on the South River in Limehouse Cove, which is located near South River Farm Park.

Crews said they found a 26-foot crabbing vessel actively burning. The U.S. Coast Guard said the injured men were crabbing recreationally when the explosion happened.

A nearby waterman took the two victims to a home on shore after they jumped into the water, first responders said.

The Anne Arundel County Fire Department took the men to the burn unit at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, officials said.

The Maryland Natural Resources Police said the cause of the explosion and fire is still under investigation.

The Coast Guard said the vessel was nearly submerged, but had a small portion exposed.

The Coast Guard issued a Safety Marine Information Broadcast notifying boaters about the navigational hazard.

"I heard a massive explosion," Tom Lazio of Lazio's Crabs said on Facebook. "Amazing they are alive. Thank goodness."

This was the second recent nautical explosion in Anne Arundel County. An explosion aboard a sailboat docked in Shady Side hospitalized a man in late May.

Related: Explosion On Sailboat In Shady Side Hospitalizes Man: Firefighters

This map shows the area where crews said the Edgewater boat explosion happened.