FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WFLA) — Survivors of a boat explosion in Fort Lauderdale on Memorial Day talk about the first horrifying incident and the moment leading up to the fire.
“I remember everything vividly,” said Cassandra Rivera, who was among the 15 people on that fateful day, along with her husband and two children.
“I was giving my little one, a cache, water, and he looked at me and said, ‘Mom, I think something bad will happen,'” Rivera said. “And on the other side, on the right, all I could hear was that my husband “smells fuel, I smell it. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop.” Suddenly, you just saw this fuel explosion. ”
Rivera was injured from the top of her shoulders, from the perforated left foot to the serious to the toe of her left foot, and from the right side to the shin on her right side.
Her seven-year-old son, Anthony, had been burned, covering more than 80% of his body. According to Dr. Carl Schulman, a surgeon at Jackson Memorial Health, more than 20% of the total body surface area is classified as a major burn.
“Bruises are horrible injuries, they are incredibly painful, and they will be with you forever. Therefore, our burn patients need a lot of follow-up and they become part of our family,” Dr. Schulman said. “Cassandra correctly calls herself a burn survivor. That’s the terminology, because she is now a life burn survivor.”
The father of four, Joshua Fifi, 28, was also on a boat, but died of injuries a few days after the explosion.
