Beachgoers Return to Salty Brine

Officials say there are no further safety concerns and beachgoers have returned to Salty Brine Beach despite no known cause of Saturday’s explosion on the beach.

The beach was evacuated Saturday while investigators searched for clues. State Department of Environmental Management officials said they’re continuing to investigate an incident at Salty Brine State Beach in Narragansett after a woman reportedly was thrown into the air after explosion noises. The woman was not identified, but was reportedly alert when taken by ambulance to South County Hospital.

Witnesses described hearing a loud boom noise and seeing the woman get launched from her beach chair into the air. Others reported smelling chemicals, like sulfur, but there was no smoke or other indications of an explosion.

Larry Mouradijan, DEM’s associate director for natural resources, said that officials are not looking for any suspects, saying there was no reason to believe the blast was man-made. He did not indicate what may have caused the blast, saying only, “there was definitely a ground disturbance there.”

He added that there is no evidence that today’s incident is related to the string of fires that destroyed three boats in Galilee yesterday.

The state bomb squad responded to the scene at around 11:30 a.m., but turned the investigation over to DEM when no evidence of an explosive device was found.