ELIOT – Three New Hampshire residents were taken to a hospital after a pleasure boat they were on caught fire Sunday afternoon in the Piscataqua River.

Eliot police Officer Michael Howe said six people from two families were fishing aboard a 21-foot fiberglass boat with an inboard engine when the engine cover blew off shortly before 5 p.m.

He said the people, who are from Northwood, N.H., and ranged in age from 12 to 46, jumped into the river before being rescued by two other boats and taken ashore in Eliot.

By the time police and fire personnel arrived, the boat was in flames with thick black smoke cutting a 20-foot-wide swath through the air.

He said three of the boaters were taken to Portsmouth Regional Hospital in Portsmouth, N.H., where they were treated for first- and second-degree burns.