Investigators Dig Up Electrical Line After Rhode Island Beach Blast
— -- The mystery of an apparent explosion on a Rhode Island beach that left a woman hospitalized deepened Monday as investigators dug up an electrical line running underneath the beach.
An official from the National Grid, which manages gas and electric service in the area, told ABC News there is an electrical line running underneath the beach that will be unearthed and examined as investigators try to figure out if it is connected with blast.
Several beachgoers said they smelled gas after the explosion Saturday at the Salty Brine State Beach in Narragansett.
The electrical line is right where the incident occurred and is about a foot under the sand.
A spokesman for National Grid had said earlier there were no gas lines along the beach.
Rhode Island State Police Col. Steven G. O'Donnell told the Associated Press Monday that investigators have not even found physical evidence of an explosion.
Reached by ABC News, the state police deferred comment to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, which said the state fire marshal’s office is handling media questions.
An official from the state fire marshal's office told ABC News today there was no evidence of any device. The fire marshal's office declined to comment further.
A similar finding was mentioned Saturday.
"We have no evidence or indication that there was a device, this could be natural, it could be man-made, at this point, it's still under investigation," Kurt Blanchard, the acting chief of the Rhode Island Environmental Police, said Saturday.
Another possibility could be an earthquake, but the U.S. Geological Survey told ABC News there was "no seismic activity in that area."
"You aren't going to see an explosion like this from a geologic source without a seismic record," seismologist Lucy Jones said.
After the apparent explosion, the beach was evacuated. A bomb squad responded to the scene and the beach was sampled.
The beach then reopened to the public Sunday.
One woman, Kathleen Danise, 60, was injured in the explosion when she was launched onto nearby rocks. She suffered a concussion and broken ribs and was briefly hospitalized.
“She was like a human cannon,” Danise’s sister, Laura Demartino, told ABC affiliate WTNH on Sunday.
Danise has been going to this beach for 30 years, but told WTNH now she won't go back.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
