A blob of hot volcanic lava has struck an ocean tour boat just off the Big Island of Hawaii, injuring nearly two dozen people in the worst casualty incident to date from the ongoing eruption of the Kilauea Volcano, authorities say.
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 on Monday.
The boat was able to return to its port in Hilo less than an hour later, and three of the injured were taken to a local hospital by ambulance, Okinaka said. Nine or 10 others with less severe injuries were driven to the hospital by private vehicle, and 10 more people were treated by paramedics at the port, he told Reuters by telephone.
A civil defence spokeswoman, Kelly Wooten, 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 around $US220 per person to watch from a vessel lava flowing into the sea.
Officials for the company were not immediately available for comment.
State and local police and the DLNR were investigating the incident, which occurred shortly after dawn near the eastern-most 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 immediately known, fire and civil defence 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 Monday's accident.
Australian Associated Press
