KAILUA-KONA — At least a dozen people on a lava tour vessel were injured Monday morning after an explosion sent lava rocks through the roof of the boat’s passenger cabin.
KAILUA-KONA — At least a dozen people on a lava tour vessel were injured Monday morning after an explosion sent lava rocks through the roof of the boat’s passenger cabin.
The passengers were aboard a 39-foot double-hull ACI Boat operated by the company when a “lava explosion” occurred near the ocean entry at Pohoiki where lava from fissure 8 is entering the ocean, according to the Hawaii Fire Department. Fire rescue personnel responded to the incident at 6:05 a.m.
The captain of the vessel, according to the fire department, told first responders that the boat was about 200 yards offshore of the lava entry site when the explosion occurred sending hurling, hot lava rocks toward the boat. At the time of the explosion, the vessel was turned out to sea. Photos of the boat show a basketball-size hole in the vessels roof and rocks on the deck.
The U.S. Coast Guard said an investigator is en route to look into the incident. The safety zone currently stands at 300-meters (984 feet) with no exclusions. That zone has been in effect since March 2017 and made permanent in May.
After the incident, fire rescue personnel met the boat at Wailoa Small Boat Harbor where they triaged the passengers. Four were transported by medics and nine personal vehicle to Hilo Medical Center and 10 were treated at the scene for minor soft tissue injuries and burns, according to the fire department.
The Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement said 13 people were treated at Hilo Medical Center. A 20-year-old woman suffered major leg trauma. The other passengers suffered burns and scrapes.
Passengers initially reported that the vessel was outside of the U.S. Coast Guard-established safety zone.
Officers from the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement along with the Hawaii Police Department are investigating the incident. DOCARE officers are now in the process of interviewing injured passengers at the Hilo Medical Center.
The DLNR originally named the company as Hawaiian Lava Boat Tours, however, shortly before noon Monday, officials said the company was in fact Lava Ocean Tours. Video provided by Hawaiian Lava Boat Tours below shows a second explosion, a minute or so after the first one that damaged the Lava Ocean Tours vessel.
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I’m sure this is not the first lave bomb seen by the Coast Guard, DLNR, or boat tour operators. I am sure that is one of the reasons the safety zone was in place. We will all soon find out what happened. GPS and witnesses on the boat will tell the story. Until then I can see the Coast Guard suspending tours in this area until the investigation is over.
Prayers for the injured and to those traumatized on that long boat ride back.
Yes prayers for the injured. I doubt we will really know what happened but I suspect there will be a lawsuit?
now ain’t that America?
This article is not accurate. The legal distance is 300 meters for non-permitted vessels, but for USCG-permitted lava tour boats it had been set at 100 meters. This was just changed by the USCG a few days ago to only 50 meters, despite the objections by one of the lava boat tour companies that this distance was unsafe. The other company, whose boat got hit, advocated for the closer distance and USCG agreed to it.
Karma?
yep, like they don’t enforce it for boats and marine animals either…but Pele can fight back.
To USCG Hawaii Pacific:
Didn’t the USCG just recently change the approach distance for permitted tour boats from 100 meters to the current 50 meters? Do you now think that change was a mistake, as you were cautioned by one tour company prior to this change that the closer distance was unsafe? However did not another company, whose boat was hit by the lava explosion today, argue for the closer distance? Public safety should override any pressure from businesses to accommodate their wishes. I am asking for an investigation into who made this decision and why. There needs to be some accountability at your agency for this accident.
Note to self: Risky to go in boat near active volcano and hot, explosive lava.