The report into that tragic Exuma boat explosion is complete, however its findings were not determined with absolute precision,  according to The Bahamas Maritime Authority (BMA), the body instructed by the government to conduct the investigation into the incident.

The boating accident back in June, ended in death for American, Maleka Jackson and serious injuries for her husband Tiran and several others, who were airlifted to The United States.

According to Managing Director and Bahamas Maritime Authority CEO, Captain Dwain Hutchinson, shortly after setting off, a substantial explosion took place in vicinity of the starboard pontoon in way of the midship of the craft. 

“The force of the explosion caused two passengers to be ejected from the craft and two passengers to be trapped in the debris, while the remaining eight passengers and crew were able to evacuate the craft before it was engulfed in fire,” he said. 

“We consider with a high degree of probability that the explosion occurred in the proximity of the starboard fuel tank. 

“This resulted in the release of a blast wave on the starboard side, the force of which appeared to have been concentrated beneath the front three rows of seats.

“The magnitude of the blast wave had sufficient energy to result in one loss of life, and severe injury to other passengers and to lead to catastrophic damage to the craft itself.” 

Captain Hutchinson admitted it was difficult identifying “the precise cause of the explosion because of the damage to the craft and the physical structure, identifying exactly that was difficult, but we made a technical assessment using the expertise of the United States Coast Guard and their technical bodies and with what we had available, we came to what we believed to be the most probable cause.” 

The BMA’s findings further revealed that the craft had not been registered with or inspected by the port department of the Bahamas, both which are required.  

In conclusion, the BMA recommended that all water crafts operating in the country should be registered and inspected. 

4C’s Adventure Tours, defied a cease and desist order following the deadly explosion which resulted in a team of police and defence force officers, as well as port officials detaining the unregistered and unlicensed vessel found operating charter tours just two days after the accident.