Terror as lava bomb crashes through roof of Hawaii tour boat ‘Hot Spot’, injuring 23

An explosion caused by lava oozing into the ocean sent molten rock crashing through the roof of a sightseeing boat off Hawaii’s Big Island, injuring 23 people Monday, officials said.

A woman in her 20s was in serious condition with a broken thigh bone, the Hawaii County Fire Department said. Three others were in stable condition at a hospital with unspecified injuries. The rest of the passengers suffered burns, scrapes and other superficial injuries.

They were aboard a tour boat, the Hot Spot, that takes visitors to see lava plunging into the ocean from a long-erupting volcano that has been vigorously shooting lava from a new vent in the ground for the past two months. The lava bomb punctured the boat’s roof, leaving a gaping hole, firefighters said.

Shane Turpin, the owner and captain of the vessel that was hit, said he never saw the explosion that rained molten rocks down on top of his boat.

He and his tour group had been in the area for about 20 minutes making passes of the ocean entry about 500 metres offshore, Turpin said.

He didn’t observe “any major explosions,” so he navigated his vessel closer, to about 250 metres away from the lava.