All 60 aboard New Zealand tourist boat rescued from fire

An investigation has been launched into a boat fire that forced 53 passengers to jump into the water or scramble into inflatable boats off the coast of New Zealand’s North Island.

German tourists Antje Ruehmkorf, left, and her daughter Rieke, were among 53 rescued passengers.

“There wasn’t much left of the boat so it shouldn’t be a boating hazard at all”, says Whakatane Mayor Tony Bonne.

White Island Tours, which operated the tourist boat, was not immediately available for comment.

RadioLIVE has described chaotic scenes, with some passengers and crew jumping overboard to escape the burning vessel while small local boats hurry to save them.

Police, ambulances and fire crews waited on the shore while the Coastguard also carried people to safety.

The Pee Jay 5, a White Island Tour boat, is still on fire off the Whakatane Harbour entrance and is believed to be sinking.

At 3:45 pm police were notified that there was a boat emitting smoke and was possibly on fire off the Whakatane River Mouth.

Two boats from the company’s fleet were sent out to assist the rescue operation.

A man remains in Whakatane Hospital in a stable condition this morning, and three others were treated and discharged yesterday.

He said the police’s search and rescue team, Coast Guard and the Rescue Co-ordination Centre were all involved in the rescue. Any enquiries with regard to passengers are to be directed to the tour operator.

“It’s in shallow-enough waters so they’ll be trying to get to it to see if they can discover how the fire started because I know it went very, very quickly”.

A crew member and a passenger were taken to a local hospital as a precaution.

The 75-foot vessel was on its way back from White Island.