May under fire from both sides
A BLOB of hot volcanic lava struck an ocean tour boat off the Big Island of Hawaii yesterday, injuring almost two dozen people in the worst casualty incident to date from the eruption of the Kilauea Volcano.
One woman’s leg was broken when the “lava bomb”, which spattered out of the water with explosive force as molten rock poured into the ocean, crashed through the roof of the boat into the vessel’s seating area, Hawaii County Fire Department Battalion Chief Darwin Okinaka said yesterday.
The boat was able to return to its port in Hilo less than an hour later, and three of the injured were taken to hospital by ambulance, Mr Okinaka said.
Nine or 10 others with less severe injuries were driven to the hospital by private vehicle, and 10 more were treated by paramedics at the port.
A civil defence spokeswoman put the total number of injuries at 23.
The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources said the boat was operated by Lava Ocean Tours, one of at least three companies offering daily excursions to passengers, who pay about $225 to watch lava flow into the sea.
Police and the DLNR were investigating the incident, which happened soon after dawn near the eastern edge of the Big Island, where lava from the 10-week-old Kilauea eruption has been flowing into the Pacific since early June.
The boat’s distance from shore and from the site of the lava explosion was not known, authorities said.
Two housing developments consisting of hundreds of dwellings were destroyed several weeks ago as lava spewing from a fissure on the slope of the volcano inundated the seaside Kapoho area in the vicinity of yesterday’s accident. BRITISH Prime Minister Theresa May has won a series of votes in parliament, keeping her overarching strategy to leave the European Union almost on track after bowing to pressure from Brexit supporters in her party.
But by accepting the demands of hard-line Brexit campaigners, Mrs May exposed her vulnerability in parliament, where both wings of her Conservative Party attacked each other, highlighting the deep divisions that have hampered progress in talks with the EU.
The PM has vowed to stick to her plan to negotiate the closest possible trade ties with the EU, saying her strategy was the only one that could meet the Government’s aims for Brexit.
But even before the EU has had time to assess her vision for Britain’s future ties with the bloc, her plans have come under fire from both camps in the Conservative Party.
One pro-EU ex-minister called it the “worst of all worlds”, while Eurosceptics said the strategy kept Britain too close to the bloc.
On Monday, Brexit supporters targeted the Government’s so-called Customs Bill, hoping to toughen up her plans. But instead of facing them down, the Government accepted their four amendments.
Mrs May denied claims that her Brexit plan was dead.