Fire breaks out on boat in Guernsey harbour

Image caption, An eye witness described hearing an explosion before the fire broke out

A blaze broke out on a boat and spread to another boat in St Peter Port Harbour in Guernsey.

The emergency services were called to the Guernsey's Queen Elizabeth II (QEII) marina on Sunday just after 16:00 BST.

The fire started on a 24ft (7.3m) cabin cruiser and spread to an adjacent boat.

Firefighter Gary Van der Linden said they were working with the deputy harbour master to recover the vessels.

Mr Van der Linden said a man and a woman were about to travel to Herm and had the engine running when they heard a bang and the fire broke out.

"The lady ended up in the water, she has been checked by the ambulance service and is absolutely fine," he said.

"The gentleman tried to put the fire out himself but was unsuccessful with an extinguisher."

Image caption, The fire spread to an adjacent boat before firefighters arrived

Two water tenders with a crew of nine personnel attended and initially used water to fight the blaze.

"It is always a fine balance with boat fires - we don't want to use so much water that we end up filling the boat and sinking them," said Mr Van der Linden.