American killed in Bahamas boat explosion ID'd as Tennessee woman
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Maleka Grimes Jackson was identified as the American tourist who died after a boat exploded in the Bahamas on Saturday. (Facebook)
The American tourist who was killed in a boat explosion in the Bahamas on Saturday has been identified as a resident of Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Maleka Grimes Jackson died when the boat burst into flames around 9 a.m., her father, Melvin Grimes, told Fox Chattanooga.
The boat, traveling off the island of Exuma, roughly 130 miles south of Nassau, was carrying 12 passengers — 10 Americans and two Bahamians — at the time of the explosion.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jackson, according to a GoFundMe page, was in the Caribbean celebrating her 15th wedding anniversary in the Bahamas when the blast occurred. Her husband, Tiran, survived but had to have one of his legs amputated.
Several other people were injured in the blast. One of the other American tourists, recent college graduate and dancer Stefanie Schaffer, had to have both of her legs amputated after she sustained "life threatening injuries," her family wrote on a GoFundMe account.
The U.S. Coast Guard said in a news release that it provided assistance, transporting four American citizens to Florida after the explosion.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Coast Guard said it sent an HC-130 Hercules airplane crew with two medical personnel to transport the boaters to Bayfront Health in St. Petersburg.
The cause of the blast remains under investigation by the Exuma branch of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, according to the Coast Guard.
Fox News' Travis Fedschun contributed to this report.