Thousands flee Australian beach after barge carrying New Year fireworks catches fire

Technicians on board dive into water to escape blasts

Thousands of partygoers celebrating the New Year were evacuated from an Australian beach after a barge carrying fireworks exploded.

Things started to go wrong five minutes into the firework display at Terrigal, a suburb of Sydney, when the boat was around 150m from the shore.

A crowd that had gathered to watch the display scattered as ambulances rushed towards the scene.

Two technicians on the barge were reportedly forced to dive into the water as the boat burst into flames.

The men were rescued by passing boats and treated for minor injuries. A spokesman for New South Wales Fire and Rescue confirmed they were safe.

“The fireworks were going off as you’d expect and then suddenly there was a hell of an explosion. Next thing the barge was on fire,” local resident Kevin Andrews told The Newcastle Herald.

Around 6,000 people were evacuated from the beach because of concerns about the stability of the remains of the barge.

The event’s organisers, It’s Time for Terrigal, said in a Facebook post the operators believed a canister had exploded, setting off “multiple detonations”.

“It became apparent this wasn’t a directed event, as there [were] random fireworks going off, at this time it was deemed unsafe and we evacuated the area,” the organisers said.

They claimed the event “went pretty well”, despite the explosion.

The Terrigal fireworks display occurred following a community fundraising campaign to return New Year’s Eve fireworks to the beach resort town, after several years without displays.