Couple escapes boat blast at lake

LAKEVIEW, Ark. -- A Piggott, Arkansas, couple's vacation took a turn for the worst Tuesday afternoon when their boat exploded shortly after refueling on Bull Shoals Lake.

The Baxter Bulletin of Mountain Home, Arkansas, said Tim and Sue Adams planned a leisurely afternoon on the lake.

They had just filled up with gas at Lakeview Cove Marina and idled into the main channel when their deck boat exploded.

No cause for the explosion is known at this time, according to the newspaper.

"It just exploded," said Tim Adams.

Two marina employees, Tyler Lorenz, 14, of Lakeview, and Brennon Watson, 19, of Mountain Home, Arkansas, saw smoke from the explosion, grabbed a boat and motored out to the area.

The couple had jumped from the boat to escape and were rescued by the teenagers as they swam from the fire.

"They're just fantastic," a shaken Sue Adams said about Lorenz and Watson.

Bull Shoals Volunteer Fire Department responded to the scene with a fireboat and extinguished the burning craft. The Lakeview Police Department, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rangers and Grover Township Volunteer Fire Department also responded to the fire.