Passenger Vessel "Burnt to the Waterline" Off New Zealand

On the afternoon of January 18, the passenger vessel Pee Jay V caught fire and burned, just off the bar at Whakatane, New Zealand. The vessel, operated by local firm White Island Tours, was carrying 53 passengers and seven crewmembers; all escaped with assistance of local SAR teams, a commercial fishing boat and other first responders.

After receiving the Pee Jay V's distress call, the local Rescue Coordination Center sent response boats to the scene and brought passengers back to shore.

Passengers reported that as the fire started, the ship's cabin filled with noxious smoke, and the crew quickly provided them with life jackets to begin evacuations. Following the captain’s instructions to abandon ship, the passengers went into the water, some onto the Pee Jay's dinghy. The fire reportedly progressed quickly as they left the vessel. Multiple first responders arrived on scene and pulled the passengers aboard.

Elaine Rogocki, a passenger from the U.K., had to wait for her daughter to join her in the water. She had been instructed to go first. "It was so frightening . . . I had to watch the boat fire get bigger, while she was still on it, then [she] puked all over the rescue boat from being seasick,” she said on social media.

Dramatic photo and video are available here.

Four people were taken to a hospital. One case of smoke inhalation and one injury sustained while abandoning ship were reported, but all passengers and crew survived.

Shoreside observers told local media that the fire progressed rapidly and that conditions on the water were poor, with a 25 knot wind and steady rain.

Roger White, who was working on Whakatane Head at the time of the incident, told media that the vessel “burnt down to the waterline” following the evacuation. The Pee Jay V sank not long after.

White Island, in the Bay of Plenty, is a former volcano about 17 nm off the coast of Whatakane. The Pee Jay V was returning from the island at the time of the incident, and observers suggested that those aboard were lucky that the fire occurred when they were near shore – rather than in the middle of the trip.