Fires

Houseboat with 29 people aboard catches fire at Lake Powell

Nearby boaters assisted with the rescue

NBC Universal, Inc.

A houseboat with 29 people on board caught fire at Lake Powell last week, and other boaters in the area rushed over to assist with the rescue.

“As we pull up, [the fire] starts getting bigger and bigger," Jake Cahoon, who was on a nearby boat, told NBC affiliate KPNX. "And so, that's why I’m like 'You guys got to jump, you got to get off this boat as soon as you can.'”

Passengers swam roughly 20 to 30 feet through choppy water to Cahoon's boat, he said. No injuries were reported in the incident, which unfolded near Glen Canyon National Park near the Arizona-Utah border.

“After it all ended, and we all went back to our houseboat, we were teary-eyed and just like grateful everyone was OK," Courtney Cahoon said.

The houseboat burned to the hull and then sank, KPNX reported. Authorities said the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

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