Boaters leaped into the water to escape a fire that consumed at least 35 vessels docked along the Tennessee River early Monday. Authorities said there were fatalities as 7 people were sent to hospitals and 7 others were initially reported missing.
The blaze was reported shortly after midnight as people living in the riverboat community were sleeping, and consumed the wooden dock and an aluminum roof that covered many of the vessels, cutting off escape routes and raining debris into the water.
"There were numerous people rescued from the water who had escaped by going into the water," Jackson County Chief Sheriff's Deputy Rocky Harnen told The Associated Press shortly after dawn.
We're trying to get divers down here to search for possible victims in the water.
We have some confirmed fatalities, but we don't have an exact number yet, Harnen added.
We have several people who were taken to the hospital from being in the water, and some had minor burns."
Scottsboro Fire Chief Gene Necklaus said earlier that 7 people were hospitalized and 7 others were missing as the fire destroyed at least 35 boats docked in Jackson County Park.
Harnen said officials are trying to account for about seven people who had places on the dock.
"They had slips here," Harnen. That doesn't mean they're in the water and it doesn't mean they're dead.
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