Man burnt in boat blaze in stable condition

The damaged boat.

A man seriously burnt when the boat he was in burst into flames at a petrol station was in a stable condition at Waikato Hospital yesterday.

The man, believed to be in his 40s, was with friends filling up the boat at the Gull service station in Paengaroa when it exploded into flames at 4.30pm on Friday.

"The nozzle went into the rod holder instead of the fuel tank. Following that there was an ignition and explosion," Gull New Zealand general manager Dave Bodger said.

Mr Bodger said the station had been closed for several hours for specialist contractors to determine the cause of the incident on Friday night.

They had not been able to conclude what had sparked the fire and would try to determine the cause in the following days, he said.

"The fire was on the boat rather than anything at the service station so in the end it was a matter of a remedial check and a nozzle change and everything was back to normal.

"I've got several theories but I want to look at some footage, discuss more with the people who were on site and chat with my team."

A Waikato Hospital spokesperson said the man was in a stable condition on the ward.