Two po­lice con­sta­bles as­signed to the Coastal Sup­port Unit were hos­pi­talised yes­ter­day, af­ter the ves­sel they were pi­lot­ing ex­plod­ed in the Gulf of Paria.

PCs Thir­ban­ie and Gon­za­les were thrown from ma­rine ves­sel CP-002 by an ex­plo­sion in the stern at 10.30 am.

The ves­sel had on­ly min­utes ear­li­er re­fu­elled at Pow­er Boats, Ch­aguara­mas, be­fore sail­ing along the west­ern penin­su­la coast­line.

An eye­wit­ness to the ex­plo­sion said, “When they moved off from the dock at Pow­er Boats, we just heard a boom and saw the two men be­ing eject­ed from the ves­sel. It hap­pened very fast and it was very weird.”

The in­jured of­fi­cers were as­sist­ed by mem­bers of the Coast Guard, who took them to Staubles Bay, Ch­aguara­mas, and from there they were trans­port­ed by am­bu­lance to the St James In­fir­mary, where they were sta­bilised be­fore be­ing trans­ferred to the Port-of-Spain Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal.

PC Thir­ban­ie re­ceived burns to his face, arms and back, while PC Gon­za­les was burnt on the left leg.

In­ves­ti­ga­tions are con­tin­u­ing in­to the in­ci­dent.