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Blaze on tour boat forces passengers overboard

Tuesday, 19 January 20163 min read

Sixty people have been rescued after a busy tourist ferry burst into flames in New Zealand.

All 53 passengers and seven crew members were forced to leap overboard after the White Island Tours boat, PeeJay V, caught fire.

It was returning from White Island in the Bay of Plenty, a volcanically-active popular tourist spot near the North Island, to Whakatane.

Coastguard and other small vessels rushed to help after the ship sent out a mayday call on Monday afternoon local time, shortly after leaving the harbour.

Four people needed hospital treatment but are in a stable condition.