HONOLULU (AP) Hawaii tour boat operators plan to continue taking visitors to see lava, but will follow the Coast Guards revised policy and stay farther away after an explosion caused molten rock to barrel through the roof of a vessel, injuring 23 people.
The Coast Guard prohibits vessels from getting closer than 984 feet from where Kilauea volcanos lava oozes into the sea. On Monday, a woman in her 20s was transported to Honolulu in serious condition with a broken thigh bone. The other 22 people injured were treated for minor burns and scrapes, including 12 who were treated at a hospital in Hilo.
Moku Nui Lava Tours Captain Kanoa Jones, whose boat was not involved in Mondays incident at Kilauea volcano, said not running the tours would only withhold income from local restaurants and other businesses dependent on tourism, he said.
If we stop operating, it not only hurts us, it hurts the community, Jones said.
The county strictly limits access to the lava on land for safety reasons, making boat and helicopter tours the only options people have to witness volcanic spectacle in person. The ocean and aerial tours each cost about $250.
The restrictions have deterred many travelers from visiting the Big Island in general, and Puna near the volcano in particular.
Shane Turpin, the owner and captain of the vessel that was hit, said he never saw the explosion.
He and his tour group had been in the area for about 20 minutes making passes of the ocean entry about 500 yards which is the length of five football fields offshore, Turpin said.
He didnt observe any major explosions, so he navigated his vessel closer, to about 250 yards (228 meters) away from the lava.
As we were exiting the zone, all of a sudden everything around us exploded, he said. It was everywhere.
The U.S. Geological Survey says explosions of varying sizes occur whenever 2,000-degree lava enters much colder seawater.
The volcano has also been pumping more lava into the water now compared to past years. Kilauea is sending to the sea as much as 26 times the amount of lava per second than it did during the 2016-17 eruption.
