An SUV exploded in Florida while transporting a propane barbecue grill when a passenger reportedly tried to light a cigarette, police in Orlando said.
Pierre Dadaille and Meguydeline Dessource were transporting the grill in the back of their red Kia Sorento about 3:30 p.m. on Sunday when Dessource lit a cigarette, Orlando Police Lt. Cindy Lane told the Orlando Sentinel. The grill was turned on and the propane tank was open and connected, Lane said.
The couple's car, which was near the entrance of Orlando's Central Florida Fairgrounds when the incident happened, continued traveling westbound and eventually crashed into a pole, Lane said.
WKMG-TV said Dadaille later changed his story about how the explosion happened, saying the lighter was placed on the dashboard when the accident occurred.
"Nobody actively lit on, she wouldn't actively light it, like, there is a gas tank in the back," Daniel Dessource, Meguydeline Dessource's brother told the television station. "My sister is not dumb. They were smoking and at some point of time they put it in the ashtray and I guess they didn't fully put it out and the gas tank was on leaking still connected."
Orlando Fire Department Hazmat engineer Dennis Pinkman told WKMG-TV the grill was not completely turned off while it was being transported.
"They never shut down the top of the tanks, so when they put [the grill] in, they inadvertently turned on one of the knobs to have the burners go on and that's when the leak was caused," Pinkman told the television station. "They are lucky to be alive."
Authorities said that Dadaille and Dessource were taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and third-degree burns.
The vehicle was severely damaged with the roof partially blown off and the windshield gone, the Sentinel said.
During its investigation, police learned that Dadaille had an active arrest warrant for fleeing and eluding. Authorities arrested him Sunday and he remained in the Orange County Jail without bail Monday on that charge and a resisting arrest without violence charge, the Sentinel said.