A tour group exploring the Puerto Vallarta coastline had a far more adventurous time than planned when their boat, El Vagabundo, burst into flames last Saturday in sight of Puerto Vallarta’s malecon.

Eight boats sent to the rescue scrambled to evacuate the 51 tourists and four crew members on board. Miraculously, tragedy was narrowly avoided and there was only one man injured – 17-year-old Armando Molina Flores, who worked in the kitchen and suffered burns on various parts of his body. The boat’s captain, Hector Arreola, ran away once his rescue boat reached the beach.

The Harbor Master’s report indicates that an overheated cable resulted in an engine fire on El Vagabundo. The fire then raged out of control, as there were apparently no working fire extinguishers on board.

El Vagabundo, owned by the Princess company in Puerto Vallarta, was almost completely destroyed, with 80 percent structural damage. The boat was already in the area’s hall of shame, after a mechanical failure left a group of journalists on a whale watching tour stranded for about five hours in February.