Cause of Rhode Island beach boom may never be known

A Rhode Island beach was immediately evacuated Saturday after reports of a bomb blast that apparently injured a woman, authorities stated.

Col. Steven O’Donnell of the Rhode Island State Police informed that their investigation found no evidence that an explosive device instigated the loud boom.

Sixty-year-old Kathleen Danise of Waterbury, Connecticut, suffered two broken ribs, a concussion and bruises, but will be OK, her sister told reporter Mario Hilario from WJAR, an affiliate of necn and NBC.

Danise was released from the hospital on Sunday and returned to her home in Waterbury.

O’Donnell says the state’s fire marshal is investigating other possible causes, like seismic events.

Be proactive – Use the “Flag as Inappropriate” link at the upper right corner of each comment to let us know of abusive posts. “There’s definitely something that happened there”, according to KY3 News. I’m not sure exactly what happened.

“There was a massive bang and I actually seen rocks shift and move and I started screaming to get up, get up”, Demartino said. The powerful blast seemed to come from underground, launching the 60-year-old Danise into the air and slamming her into the rocks. “A live cannonball, that’s only way to describe it”, said Laura DeMartino, Danise’s sister.

Several beachgoers said they smelled gas after the explosion, however, a spokesman for National Grid, which manages gas and electric service in the area, said there are no gas lines along the beach.

His 12-year-old son Dante reported hearing someone yell bomb and called the beach “chaotic”.

The Rhode Island Department of Management wrote on Twitter later Saturday of the explosion, “On-site investigation compete & no reason to believe there are an public safety concerns related to incident”.