MIAMI – One of the survivors of a deadly Memorial Day boat explosion in Fort Lauderdale spoke about her ordeal Wednesday as her two sons remained at a Miami burn center.
Cassandra Rivera was among nearly a dozen injured when the boat exploded on the Intracoastal Waterway.
So too were her sons, 7-year-old Anthony and 5-year-old Kash. Anthony was the most severely burned victim. Her husband also survived; Joshua Fifi, a father of four, died days after the blast.
The Riveras, along with other victims, were taken south to Jackson Memorial Hospital to be treated at its burn unit and remained hospitalized Wednesday.
Rivera recounted the moment of the explosion. Investigators believe fuel vapors caused a sudden fireball.
“My husband is screaming, ‘I smell fuel. I smell fuel. Please. Stop. Stop. Stop.’ And all of a sudden, you just see this fuel explosion, and it exploded and it was gone,” Rivera said. “And when I tell you, it felt like maybe someone poured 2,000-degree water on me.”
Dr. Carl Schulman, a burn surgeon at the hospital, described burns as a “horrific” and “incredibly painful” injury.
“And they’re with you forever,” he said.
Schulman said burn patients “require a large amount of follow-up” and said they “become part of our family.”
“There (are) scarring issues and long-term psychological issues so we tend to follow our burn patients for a long period of time,” he said.
The hospital activated its mass casualty protocol to treat the victims.
Rivera, who suffered burns on 20% of her body, said she did not want to be admitted to the hospital so she could be by her boys’ sides.
“It breaks your ‘mom heart’ to see your child in pain. And for a while, while I was in the ICU, I literally doubted myself, and I said ‘I failed as a mom.’ But then I had to come to the realization, there was nothing that I could do,” she said. “I didn’t expect anything to happen. It’s a fluke accident. I’ve boated my whole entire life. I’ve never had it happen. I would never expect it to happen, but you don’t expect things like this.”
Rivera hadn’t yet returned home as of Wednesday, remaining at the hospital to be with her sons.
She credits JMH doctors and staff with saving their lives.
Local 10 News also spoke to Jacqueline LeBow, the mother of another survivor, as she visited JMH Wednesday as part of what’s been a “grueling” ordeal.
She said her 36-year-old son, Brandon Fife, remained in critical condition Wednesday.
“The inhalation of the gases has produced a tremendous injury and it is going to take months to heal,” LeBow said. “What I am hearing is that they were not properly ventilated.”