STATEMENT TAKEN BY CONSERVATION AND RESOURCES ENFORCEMENT OFFICER VANCE LIME: I spoke with Subject and volunteered to give a verbal statement.  At this time, Subject stated that he and his brother filled the vessel with about 10 gallons of fuel into the tank.  Operator turned on the exhaust blowers for the engine compartment and opened the engine hatch.  That it was on for at least an hour before the incident happened.  They noticed water in the haul (sic) from the rain and decided to pump out the water.  At this time they noticed that the bilge pump was not working.  Operator went into the engine compartment to fix the bilge.  As they were doing this, they did notice that the fuel vapors were still apparent in the air, but the blowers were still on.  At this time Operator stripped the wires for the bilge pump and went to attach it to the battery post.  As he did this, he asked Subject who was on the deck to look over the starboard side to see if water was coming out.  The bilge pump was working.  Subject went to climb down into the engine compartment and as he did this, he stated that he saw Operator going to reattach the bilge pump wires to the battery post.  At this time, Subject observed a spark and then an explosion happened.  Subject stated that after the explosion he reached down and pulled his brother out of the engine compartment.  He noticed that Operator was severely burned.
HONOLULU