A trio of yachts in Miami were destroyed by fire Friday morning, and investigators suspect arson.
A woman who owned two of the destroyed boats, who did not provide her name, told WTVJ-TV that she did not think the incident was random and that she and the owner of the third boat were targeted.
The incident is being investigated as a possible case of arson, the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office told WSVN-TV.
The fire broke out at the Miami River along North River Drive after 3:30 a.m., prompting Miami-Dade Fire Rescue to respond with more than 30 units. The fires produced an explosion that shook nearby buildings.
“It’s just a loud boom, and the whole entire hotel you could feel it shake, the whole vibration,” Amanda Cummings, a witness who was staying on the sixth floor of a hotel near the Miami River, told WTVJ-TV.
The three vessels were two 60-foot boats and a 90-foot boat, MDFR told WFOR-TV, with no one being injured.
One of the burned boats sank, a second was nearly entirely submerged and the third was gutted with flames continuing to rekindle in the area where its engine had been, according to WTVJ-TV.
