![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/a-rescue-boat-attending-to-the-island-direct-ferry-SIW4USOFDBDENB26AXUKNIAWQI.png\")
<\/p>\nPassengers have been safely evacuated from a Waiheke Island ferry after a mayday call of a fire on board.<\/p>\n
Ferry operator Island Direct said it has since been determined there was only smoke and no fire from one of the boat’s engines, which had an exhaust issue.<\/p>\n
Coastguard’s Maritime Operations Centre was alerted through VHF radio at 3.40pm of the incident aboard the vessel, which was just off the island in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf.<\/p>\n
Eighteen passengers and crew onboard were evacuated without injury, according to Island Direct. Passengers could be seen donning lifejackets during the transfer. <\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Coastguard said three vessels coordinated the evacuation. <\/p>\n
“Coastguard Howick and the police maritime unit transported Fire and Emergency NZ personnel to the ferry. Passengers were evacuated without injury.”<\/p>\n
An Island Direct representative said smoke from the exhaust issue was “initially reported as a fire, and our engineers have now confirmed there was no fire. <\/p>\n
“Our highly trained crew acted immediately, following emergency procedures to ensure the safety of all on board,” they said in a statement.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A rescue boat attending to the Island Direct ferry. (Source: Graham Smith )<\/p>\n
“Island Direct worked quickly and closely with the NZ Coastguard and Maritime Police to safely return passengers and crew to Auckland.”<\/p>\n
A Coastguard vessel was towing the ferry, which 1News understood to have been in service for only a few days, back to shore. <\/p>\n
A police spokesperson said officers were “notified of smoke” on the ferry. <\/p>\n
Fire crews from Oneroa and Parnell responded to the incident and were taken to the scene by boat, according to Fire and Emergency NZ.<\/p>\n
Auckland Transport said three Island Direct ferry sailings were cancelled as a result of an “emergency services incident” earlier today.<\/p>\n
These included the 5.30pm and 7.30pm Matiatia to Downtown services and 6.30pm Downtown to Matiatia run, according to an app notification. <\/p>\n
“We sincerely thank the NZ Coastguard and Maritime Police for their swift assistance,” an Island Direct spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
“The safety of our passengers and crew is always our highest priority. We apologise to our customers for any distress or disruption this afternoon’s incident has caused.”<\/p>\n
The ferry involved was understood to be the company’s Te Waiora \u2014 a new boat which was the upstart’s second vessel and which made its maiden sailing yesterday.<\/p>\n
Island Direct launched in late 2023, competing against established operator Fullers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Passengers have been safely evacuated from a Waiheke Island ferry after a mayday call of a fire on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51,111,43,139,69,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-96243","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-auckland","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-transport"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}