Body Found Inside Burned Boat On Bethel Island Identified
BETHEL ISLAND (BCN) -- A man whose body was found last week on a boat that caught fire and sank at the Bethel Island Marina has been identified by the Contra Costa County coroner's office as 56-year-old Douglas Hiles.
East Contra Costa Fire Protection District crews initially responded around 10 p.m. on Feb. 7 to a report of a boat on fire and arrived to find the vessel in flames that also spread to a dock awning.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze, but learned a man lived on the boat and his vehicle was still parked at the marina. The boat ended up sinking early the next morning, then was raised on Feb. 10 and the man, later identified as Hiles, was found dead on it, county sheriff's officials said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation and no oiled wildlife were reported as a result of the sunken boat, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's Office of Spill Prevention and Response.
