A man who pulled a badly injured boat fire victim to safety from the water has spoken of the rescue drama.

Stephen Winchell raced to the aid of Brian McCullough, 29, who suffered severe burns to his face, arms and legs in a fuel tank explosion on his motor boat.

As we reported yesterday, Mr. McCullough and a friend had just taken the 23-Wellcraft vessel for refuelling at Boaz Island gas station on Wednesday evening when the fire — thought to be the result of a fuel leak — broke out.

Mr. McCullough bore the brunt of the explosion, but managed to jump into the water to escape the flames along with his friend.

The pair were in the water for about ten minutes before they were pulled aboard another boat.

Speaking before he was Medevacked to a specialist burns unit in Boston on Thursday, Mr. McCullough said he did not know the identity of his rescuers, other than that one was called by the name "Smiley".

In a message to those who helped, he said: "Thank you very much. You saved my life. If I ever see you in town I owe you a beer."

Mr. Winchell's mother subsequently contacted The Royal Gazette to tell us it was her son, Stephen — nicknamed Smiley — who assisted.

Recalling what happened, Mr. Winchell, who had been fishing from his 35-foot Bruno motor boat with two friends, said yesterday: "I was about a mile away in the channel. I just looked up and saw a fire with smoke. I've seen a boat burn before and knew it was a fibreglass fire.

"I sped my boat over to look around for people and I saw two of them in the water. One guy was 'rescue swimming' with his arm around the guy's (Mr. McCullough's) neck.

"They were pretty far away from the burning boat when I got to them, about two or three hundred feet, and were still quite a way from the shore."

Mr. McCullough, he said, was holding his injured hands out of the water and urging people not to touch them. He realised the injured man would not be able to pull himself onto a boat because of his burns, so he found another way of rescuing him.

"I put a rope around him — under one arm, around his chest and under the other arm — and pulled him aboard.

"He was in shock but alert and talking. It probably took me about three minutes to reach the men in the water and another three or four minutes to reach the dock," he explained.

"I was relieved to see the Police were already on the dock as I didn't even have a Band Aid on the boat. Within three minutes a fire truck was there too and they started first aid."

Asked how he felt about having potentially saved Mr. McCullough's life, Mr. Winchell said: "I'm happy to help."

But the modest 41-year-old from Sandys said he felt embarrassed that people came up to him and hailed him a hero after yesterday's story hit the headlines.

"This has all been blown way out of proportion," he protested.

Mr. McCullough is being treated at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, with his wife Joann, 28, at his side.

A spokeswoman described his condition yesterday as serious. Police and Fire Service investigators are continuing work to pinpoint the cause of the blaze.