All 60 aboard New Zealand tourist boat rescued from fire

The fire aboard the 23m vessel took hold about 3.45pm on Monday just off the Whakatane Harbour entrance.

The majority of passengers and crew are now at the Coastguard premises in Whakatane.

Before being rescued the 53 passengers and seven crew members were forced to leap overboard to escape the fire.

“A general call went out for any boats to assist and there was an immediate response from local charter operators”, police said in a statement.

A chopper carried a sweep of the water out to support the passenger manifest demonstrated everyone had been accounted for as well as everyone had been saved.

They were taken to a triage centre on Whakatane Wharf and four people were taken to hospital – two remain under observation, two were discharged.

Media enquiries should be referred to Communications Manager Kim Perks on 027 234 8256.

A boat with 60 people on board has sunk after catching fire off the Whakatane coast this afternoon. Katee Shanks, a reporter for Rotorua Daily Post, described the situation as “awful, the flames are huge and are taking over the ship”.

The flames were overtaking the boat, she said.

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Some passengers were reportedly evacuated to another smaller tour vessel, while several boats could also be seen sailing to the shore on a live stream put up by the local Coastguard website.

Tourist boat destroyed… the White Island Tours” boat “Peejay IV’.