A bus tour along 90 Mile Beach ended in the bus being engulfed in waves yesterday after it broke down.
The bus, owned by Harrison's Cape Reinga Tours, was scheduled to go to from Kaitaia to Cape Reinga and back.
Instead, passengers were stranded in the ocean when the bus broke down and became marooned by the high tide.
A passenger says the driver took the bus into waves, after which it started to make an unusual sound and then stopped. The passengers were asked to evacuate, after the driver tried for 10 minutes to get the engine going. The witness said elderly passengers struggled to climb the sand dunes to safety.
The bus was then fully engulfed as the tide came in. It took around 3 hours before the bus was pulled from the sea by a tractor.
Local iwi in the Far North have previously voiced concerns about vehicles being used on the beach and said they may look at restricting access, in particular for heavy buses, as part of their Treaty of Waitangi settlement.
The tour usually departs from Kaitaia at 9am and returns by 5pm after travelling through Aupouri Forest, Ninety Mile Beach, Te Paki Stream and Sand Dunes and Cape Reinga.
One passenger said they were told they would not be refunded.
But a spokesperson for the bus tour said the bus was only in the water for around an hour and full refunds would be given.
The cost of a tour on the bus is $50 for adults and $25 for children.
3 News
