Police investigating reported explosion at Rhode Island beach

Officials are searching for a suspect they believe planted an item in the sand, then fled to a neighboring beach, Sgt.

Police and firefighters in Narragansett, Rhode Island, were investigating an apparent explosion at a beach that injured one woman.

ABC News noted that Rayna Maguire of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management said that Salty Brine State Beach in Narragansett was evacuated around 11 a.m. after what witnesses described as an explosion.

Police are continuing to investigate the incident on Saturday afternoon and the beach remains closed. No other injuries have been reported.

West Greenwich native Mario Lewis said he heard a “boom” in the sand next to the rock wall while he was catching crabs, the Providence Journal reported. He was only a few feet away from the injured woman, who was sitting in a beach chair with a group of family members when the explosion occurred. She was transported to South County Hospital.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Officials are trying to determine what caused a blast that knocked a Rhode Island beachgoer to the ground, but left behind no obvious evidence of an explosive device.

“It was like an M-80 boom, like a grenade”, Lewis said, adding that there was no debris or black smoke from the explosion.