Authorities have evacuated a Rhode Island beach after a reported explosion injured one woman.
The explosion took place at Salty Brine Beach in Narragansett at around 11:15 a.m., throwing a 50-year-old woman several feet into the air off the sand and onto the rocks of the beach's jetty, authorities said, according to the Daily Mail. The victim was taken to South County Hospital, and her current condition has yet to be revealed.
Police and firefighters arrived on the scene after several people at the beach called 911.
The investigation currently involves a bomb squad at the beach and local police looking for a potential suspect who may have planted something in the sand, the Daily Mail reported.
Several people who were at the beach at the time described the incident, including local radio host Dave Dean, who said in a video on Facebook that it felt like an earthquake or gas explosion, ABC News reported.
West Greenwich native Mario Lewis said he heard a "boom" in the sand next to the rock wall while he was catching crabs, the Providence Journal reported.
"It was like an M-80 boom, like a grenade," Lewis said, adding that there was no debris or black smoke from the explosion.
Rayna Maguire, Assistant to the Director of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, said that authorities have yet to find the device that caused the explosion, according to ABC News.
The beach is current closed, and the investigation is ongoing.
