Hawaii «lava bomb» hits tourist boat, there are victims

A piece of red-hot rock from the erupting volcano Kilauea broke through the roof of a tourist boat and injured 23 people.

Tourists watch the lava of Kilaua volcano erupt into the Pacific Ocean.

As the molten rock began to settle into the ocean, one of the pieces was thrown out of the water.

The burning rock landed directly on the roof of a tourist boat whose passengers had paid to admire the eruption, puncturing it and collapsing on the heads of the people sitting inside.

A young woman was taken to hospital in serious condition with a fractured hip. Most of the passengers suffered burns, scratches and other superficial injuries.

A hole in the roof of a tourist boat left by a lava bomb.

The captain of the stricken boat has been taking tours to Kilauea Volcano, which has been erupting uninterruptedly for the past 35 years, for many years. He notes that nothing like this has ever happened before in his practice.

The U.S. Coast Guard in May created a safety zone around the area where lava flows into the ocean from the Big Island.

Ships are prohibited from approaching closer than 300 meters to the lava flow points into the ocean, but experienced captains can obtain a special license that allows them to reduce that distance to 50 meters. Note that the affected boat was approximately 230 metres from the lava infiltration point.