Lake Expo is reporting that a barge driver from Ozark Barge & Dock Service escaped serious injury after the barge he was driving exploded.

The website says the explosion happened at the 7.5 Mile Marker of the Gravois Arm, not far from Coconuts Bar & Grill.

The owner of Ozark Barge & Dock Service, Nina Gennetten, told Lake Expo that the driver had stepped onto the dock when the barge exploded. She believes the driver would have been killed if he had been on the barge. And she reports to Lake Expo that the driver was taken to a hospital for treatment, but had escaped serious injury.

After the explosion, the dock drifted into the shore near two other docks and burned, but no other structures caught on fire. Rocky Mount and Gravois Fire Protection Districts responded to the explosion.

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