One woman’s leg was broken when the “lava bomb,” which burst from the water near the boat as molten rock poured into the ocean, landed on the roof of the vessel and crashed into the seating area, said Hawaii County Fire Department Battalion Chief Darwin Okinaka. Nine people with superficial injuries drove themselves to the hospital, and an additional 10 passengers were treated at the harbor for superficial injuries. Molten rock running into the ocean exploded and threw chunks of lava onto the Lava Ocean Tours boat, smashing a basketball-size hole through the boat's roof and raining smaller rocks onto the decking. “In all honesty, we definitely evaded a catastrophic event today.” Officials have warned of the danger of getting close to lava entering the ocean, saying the interaction can create clouds of acid and fine glass. Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano erupted in early May, sending a smoldering flow of lava into residential areas on the Big Island. HONOLULU (Reuters) - A blob of hot volcanic lava struck an ocean tour boat just off the Big Island of Hawaii on Monday, injuring at least 22 people in the worst casualty incident to date from the ongoing eruption of the Kilauea Volcano, fire officials said.
23 passengers on a tour boat in Hawaii are injured after a lava bomb from the Kīlauea volcano punctures the roof of the vessel.