A man escaped with his life yesterday after a boat moored next to a gas station and a packed restaurant exploded.

Gas station attendants helped to get the owner to safety after he dived into the water to escape the inferno and another boat, the Tenacious with two brothers on board, towed the burning vessel out to St George’s Harbour.

The brothers’ mother hailed her sons and the gas attendants as heroes, saying without them “so many people could have died”.

A visibly shocked Kamla Wakefield, who witnessed the incident, said: “Everyone would have died if it had not been for my sons and the men at the gas station.

“When I think of how many people could have been killed if it had not been for those boys. So many people could have died.”

The incident happened outside Rubis Dowling’s Marine Service Station, which is next to The Wharf Restaurant and Bar, where the outside dining terrace was packed.

Witnesses said the man on board the boat, a 32ft pleasure craft, did not appear to have suffered any injuries and had been checked by emergency medical staff before going home.

Garon Dowling, of Rubis Dowling’s Marine Service Station, said: “We had a boat filling the tank. Once it finished filling, the man came back to the boat. He turned the key and it exploded.

“Once it exploded, we enacted our fire safety training. We got a knife and cut the lines to the boat and got the fire extinguishers.

“One person was on board. He was up top. If he had been below, it would have been much worse. He got to our deck and to safety.”

He added: “From the time of the explosion to when the boat had been towed to a safe place was about 20 minutes but it felt like seconds.

“The man on board must have been saying he was lucky to be alive. When it exploded it sounded like a bomb going off.”

Royce Wakefield was one of the brothers on the Tenacious, which was right behind the boat as it exploded.

“We threw a grapple hook to tow it away from the dock and we took it out to the harbour.”

Chris Matvey was having dinner with Michael O’Connor at The Wharf Restaurant and Bar when the boat exploded.

“The boat pulled up to get gas. All of a sudden we heard an explosion and stuff was flying through the air.

“The gas station attendants pushed the boat out but it came back to the dock. That is when Tenacious came back and threw a hook on to the burning boat and towed it away.

“When it happened, everyone dining outside stood up and backed away, then we ran away as the fire was coming towards the dock. If the guys on the Tenacious had not pulled it away, it could have been much worse.”

According to a Bermuda Radio spokesman, there was one person aboard the 32ft motorboat, named Woodstock.

The spokesman said the boat burnt all the way down to the waterline before sinking.

He said: “The boat had just finished fuelling at Dowling’s and a fire started as soon as the engine was started. Then there was an explosion.

“There was one person on board who jumped off the boat. The boat was pushed off the berth by the folks at the fuel dock but that didn’t work as the wind pushed it back on to the dock.

“A passing fishing boat — Tenacious — came and towed the boat out into the harbour. It [Woodstock] burnt down to the water line and eventually sunk. There were no injuries.”

Gavin Carter, Acting Sergeant for the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service, said: “A call was received through 911 at 1.42pm of a boat on fire at Dowling’s marina.

“The boat was towed to Marginal Wharf, where it was extinguished by the BFRS using a turret monitor at 2.39pm, at which time the vessel sunk.

“Clearwater and Hamilton stations were in attendance with a total of ten BFRS personnel in five vehicles.”

Michael Weeks, the national security minister, praised the crew of Tenacious - Royce and Sloan Wakefield - for their quick thinking.

He said: "I want to praise Sloan Wakefield whose heroic and selfless efforts in leaping into action today to tow away a boat engulfed in flames averted a possible tragic outcome.

He added: "Having heard the news, I was impressed by the account of the staff at Dowling’s Marine & Auto Service and Mr Wakefield's quick thinking to safeguard the lives of others in the vicinity when they witnessed the vessel erupt into flames.

"With bystanders near the dock in such close proximity, there was the real potential for injury, which thankfully did not happen thanks to the work of the staff at Dowling’s Marine and the determination Mr Wakefield showed along with the crew of his vessel Tenacious".

“It turns out the staff at Dowling’s Marine are trained to handle these very incidents.”

* UPDATE: this story has been updated to include a video of the moment the boat exploded.