Hope Harbour Marina fire: Witnesses say they saw two men throw petrol
Witnesses say two men were seen throwing petrol before a massive blaze destroyed several boats at Hope Harbour Marina on the Gold Coast last night.
Police & Courts
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POLICE suspect arson is the cause of a massive fire that destroyed several boats at Hope Island last night.
Witnesses claim two people were seen throwing petrol onto one of the boats before it was engulfed in flames at Hope Harbour Marina at John Lund Drive about 11.15pm.
The fire quickly spread to neighbouring vessels, with three completely destroyed.
Multiple fire trucks attended the scene and crews extinguished the blaze around 12.40am.
A Queensland Fire Service spokeswoman said evacuations were conducted in the area.
No one was injured in the fire.
Police investigating the fire said the motive for the incident is still unknown but witnesses had helped describe what happened.
“It’s too early in the investigation to speculate on a motive, at this stage, and that will form a part of our enquiry,” Detective Inspector Chris Ahearn said.
“We believe it is two male people, one is described as caucasian, heavy set with a beer gut and long dark hair.
“The other person we believe is a male, only described as wearing a maroon hoodie that was pulled up over his head.
“They were a matter of metres away from the boat that they threw this item onto.
“They threw it from the walking area where the boat is boarded.
“We believe they have scaled that fence to gain access to the area.”
People from nearby properties and boat owners have been spoken to, but at this stage police have not spoken to the owner of the boat that was targeted.
A local musician who goes by the name Bobby Blue, who lives a couple of houses down from the scene, said he said he was playing guitar and enjoying TV around 11pm last night when he heard two bangs.
“I thought it was coming from my balcony, I rushed and grabbed two knives,” he said.
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The resident was shocked when he saw fire outside his house and his knives were soon replaced with a hose.
“The fire from the boats were blowing back towards the houses, I was ready if any of it came into my property,” he said.
“The fire service got here quick but every time they got one boat under control the blaze would hit the other boat.
“It went on for hours until I fell asleep.”
Another local resident, Jill Elliott, said he heard “banging and exploding”.
“First thing is I smelt something and I thought oh gee that smells strong,” she said
“Then I heard lots and lots of banging and exploding, so I thought I’d go down and see what it was.”
Ms Elliott didn’t see any fire but did see lots of smoke
“There was orange smoke, white smoke and really really black smoke,” she said.
“The fireys looked like they did a really good job, they really got into it.”
Detectives are appealing for witnesses to the incident, asking anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area between 10.30pm and 11.30pm to come forward.
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