Eight people were killed when a fire engulfed dozens of boats docked on an Alabama lake early Monday.
The blaze began after midnight, tearing through a dock area and consuming at least 35 boats in the Jackson County Park Marina at Guntersville Lake on the Tennessee River.
Scottsboro fire chief Gene Necklaus called the inferno “one the most devastating things I’ve ever seen,” according to AL.com.
He said eight people were confirmed dead — but added “that number could go up, because we don’t know how many were on boats” that sank, some of which were primary residences.
Some people jumped into the water to escape the flames, according to Jackson County Sheriff’s Deputy Rocky Harnen.
Seven of them were rescued to and hospitalized with nonserious injuries, including many suffering from hypothermia, Necklaus said.
Mandy Durham, who was with her boyfriend on a nearby boat, described the hellish scene, saying the two awoke to “screams and popping noises.”
When they looked out of the window, they “could see red.”
“Within 15 to 20 minutes, the whole dock was in flames,” she said.
Survivor Phillip Pace was staying on a boat with friends for a hunting trip when their vessel caught fire after colliding with a flaming pontoon.
“You could hear people screaming,” he told AL.com.
Pace leapt into the lake to escape the burning boat and swam for about 100 yards until a rescue boat scooped him to safety.
Witness Julie Jackson saw the fire from the houseboat she lives on with her family at a nearby dock.
“The worst thing for me is you could hear people screaming for help, and there was nothing we could do. Nobody could do anything to get to them,” she said.
The cause of the fire is not yet known, officials said.
The Scottsboro Fire Department is teaming up with local police and the Alabama State Fire Marshal’s Office to probe the cause.
Additional reporting by Kenneth Garger, with Wire Services