Hawaiian tour boats must stay farther away after volcano bomb
Boat operators will continue to take tourists to see lava erupting from the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island, a day after a “lava bomb” hit a boat, injuring 23 people.
However, they won’t be able to get as close to the lava as they used to, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
Monday, molten rock running into the ocean exploded and threw chunks of lava onto a Lava Ocean Tours boat, smashing a basketball-size hole through the boat’s roof and raining smaller rocks onto the deck.
Most of the injuries to passengers were burns or scrapes. The most seriously injured person was a woman in her 20s, who was transported to Honolulu in serious condition with a broken thigh bone.
After the accident, the Coast Guard said boats will need to remain about 1,000 feet from where the lava meets the ocean. This is a change from the 165foot rule that had been in effect for some specially permitted tour boat operators.
Officials warned of the danger of getting close to lava entering the ocean, saying the interaction can create clouds of acid and fine glass. Despite the hazards, several companies operate such tours.
“Tour vessels are known to operate in the area going back at least 20 years,” the Coast Guard said on its Facebook page.
The boat hit Monday was about 750 feet from the explosion.
Until Monday, Kilauea’s latest eruption, which began May 3, had caused relatively few direct injuries, the Honolulu Advertiser said. One man injured his left ankle when a lava bomb hit him May 19 as he was standing on his porch.