A man who was engulfed in flames when his boat exploded into a fireball has thanked the unknown Good Samaritans who pulled his badly burned body from the water.

Speaking from his Intensive Care bed minutes before being medevacked to the US yesterday, Brian McCullough, 29, said: "Thank you very much. You saved my life. If I ever see you in town I owe you a beer."

Mr. McCullough suffered second degree burns to his face, arms and legs after the fuel tank exploded on the new 23-foot Wellcraft motor boat around 7.20 p.m on Wednesday.

He and a friend had just taken it to the Boaz Island gas station in Somerset — but minutes later it burst into flames.

"I'd been working on the boat with a friend. It was one of its first runs and we found a fuel leak. I went to check it out but as soon as I stepped down there it flashed up. I jumped up four and a half feet out of the bilge and jumped over the side," he explained.

In obvious pain from his injuries, which have left his entire face badly scorched and blistered, Mr. McCullough recalled the rescue effort that swung into action around him. "There were two boats in the area. We were swimming for about ten minutes. The boat that pulled me aboard was a 32 to 35 foot sports fishing boat.

"They saw the smoke and fire. He (the skipper) was coming down by Dockyard by the prison and he got over to us. Another boat came from the mooring we were just at on the other side of the road by Woody's bar. Then I couldn't tell you how many boats showed up but I could hear them all."

His fellow crew member, a 42-year-old who has not been named by the authorities, suffered a burn to the back of one of his calves.

Although he was also taken to hospital after the blaze, he did not need to be kept in for treatment.

Mr. McCullough was described as "stable" by doctors yesterday, but his prognosis remained unclear.

King Edward VII Memorial Hospital does not have a burns unit, and he was waiting to see a specialist on arrival at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

Although his body was protected by the shorts and tee shirt he was wearing, all his extremities were injured. "I'm burned from my hands to my elbows and from my knees to my toes. They've been able to help me with the pain and it's bearable," he said.

Mr. McCullough, from Smith's, is a US-trained mechanic although he doesn't have a job in Bermuda at the moment.

His wife, Joann, 28, was getting ready to accompany him on the flight when they talked to The Royal Gazette last night.

"I was at home when the fire happened. I ran to the store and when I came back one of the guys that helped them had left a couple of messages on my phone to say what happened," she explained.

"I'm feeling shocked and upset but his friend from the boat did a good job of telling me he was OK."

Neither she nor her husband know the identity of those on the other boats who went to his aid, although Mr. McCullough remembers one man being called by the name "Smiley."

Eyewitness Sarah Mulcaheh, 28, watched the drama unfold from her home about 500 yards away in Ferry Lane, Somerset.

Having been alerted by her father-in-law Dan Mulcaheh, she and husband Brad ran outside to observe the scene through binoculars — although they did not see those who had jumped to safety.

The flames were at a low level at first, she said "but within a matter of ten minutes the whole entire boat was engulfed in flames... it was a huge great fire in the night on the ocean.

"We watched it burn until it sank. At one point the whole Watford Bridge neighbourhood was down here watching."

Lieutenant Dana Lovell of Bermuda Fire Service said the craft will be examined by investigators once the Marine Police have brought it back to the surface, hopefully today.

• Were you involved in the rescue effort? Contact Elizabeth Roberts at The Royal Gazette on 278-0156 or eroberts[AT]royalgazette.bm.