New Zealand recovers 6 bodies from volcanic island in high-risk mission

WHAKATANE/WELLINGTON - A New Zealand military team recovered 6 bodies on Friday from the volcanic island that fatally erupted earlier this week, in a high risk operation watched by dozens of grieving family members waiting on the mainland.

A bomb disposal squad worked as quickly as possible after using helicopters to land on White Island, which experts have said still has a 50-60 percent chance of another eruption in the coming hours.

Six of the eight bodies on the island were successfully retrieved and taken to a naval patrol vessel for transfer to the mainland for disaster victim identification, New Zealand police said.

The eight-person team was unable to recover the remaining two bodies as the cumbersome protective equipment they needed to wear slowed down the tricky operation.

"It has been an incredibly difficult operation but it has been such a priority," New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told Australian Broadcasting Radio Corp on Friday morning. "We just want to bring loved ones home."

New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush said dive teams have been deployed in the waters around the island, which is also known by its Maori name of Whakaari, and another aerial search would be conducted later on Friday.

"It's not over yet," Bush told reporters in Whakatane, the mainland coastal town where about 100 family and local community members prayed and sang together as they watched helicopters fly to and from the island.

The volcano, a popular tourist destination for day-trippers, erupted on Monday, spewing ash, steam and gases over the island. Among the 47 people on the island at the time were Australian, US, German, Chinese, British and Malaysian tourists.

The official death toll stands at eight as the bodies on the island have been classified as missing until they are formally identified. More than two dozen more people are in hospitals across New Zealand and Australia, most with severe burn injuries.

A blessing was held at sea with the victims' families before the mission was launched.

Locals Boz Te Moana, 24 and Michael Mika, 28, came to support families gathered at the marae, a Maori community center in Whakatane on New Zealand's North Island, which lies some 50 km (30 miles) west of the island.

"Where we come from we don’t leave anyone behind, no one gets left behind," Te Moana said of his Maori community. "We all move as one."

SKIN SUPPLIES

Police had been confident of the location of six of the bodies, as they had been viewed from the air but had cautioned there would be limited opportunity to search for the other two.

"The New Zealand authorities have indicated they will return as soon as it is possible to do so," Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne told reporters in Sydney.

Payne said she had been advised the six bodies removed from the island were likely to those of Australian tourists, adding that 11 injured Australians have now been transferred from overloaded burns units in New Zealand, with one more to be repatriated in the "coming days".

Australians made up the majority of the tourists visiting the island at the time of the explosion. Many of them were passengers on a Royal Caribbean Cruises ship on a day tour to the island.

Peter Haertsch, the doctor in charge of the burns unit caring for the returned Australians, said they been exposed to fast-moving clouds of very hot volcanic gas and pumice and ash.

"They have suffered severe contact skin burns with severe injuries due to inhalation of gas and ash, and we are looking at extensive and intensive care for these patients, some of whom are still in a life-threatening condition," Haertsch said in an emailed statement.

Payne said Australia was working with the United States and other countries to source some of the urgently needed 1.2 million square cms (186,000 square inches) of skin, an amount that far exceeds annual donations in New Zealand and Australia.

"It's jarring for us to hear just the sheer scale of that need because it amplifies just how horrific some of the injuries are," Ardern told ABC Radio.

QUESTIONS OVER RISK

Authorities had faced growing pressure in recent days from families of some victims to recover the bodies as soon as possible.

There has also been criticism that tourists were allowed on the island at all, given the risks of an active volcano. Ardern has announced an inquiry into the tragedy, which will address such broader questions.

"It's a very unpredictable volcano," she told ABC radio on Friday. "Having said that, that's not sufficient in terms of explanation as to whether or not the right checks and balances were in place."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

8 still missing in New Zealand volcano eruption: police

Eight people were still missing after a volcanic eruption in New Zealand, with no indications they survived the explosion that has already left five dead, police said Tuesday.

After initial confusion about how many people were visiting White Island when it erupted unexpectedly on Monday, police said a clearer picture of the disaster was emerging.

"Forty-seven people went onto the island -- we can now confirm five are deceased, 31 are currently in hospital, a further eight are still missing and three have been discharged from hospital," police official Bruce Bird said.

Among the missing are tourists from Australia, the United States, Britain, China and Malaysia, as well as New Zealanders who were acting as tour guides.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern offered condolences on behalf of the country.

"To those who have lost or are missing family and friends, we share in your unfathomable grief and in your sorrow," she said.

"Your loved ones stood alongside Kiwis who were hosting you here and we grieve with you."

Bird said a helicopter has scoured the island -- a popular tourist attraction -- for 45 minutes, checking if anyone was still alive.

"We do not believe anybody else has survived that explosion," he said.

Police will assess whether a recovery mission to remove bodies from the island is possible Tuesday amid the risk of further eruptions.

"Today our focus will be on working with experts to determine the safety for us to return to the island to look to recover those people who are currently missing," Bird said.

"We will only go to the island when it is safe to do so for our people."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

5 confirmed dead in New Zealand volcano eruption: police

New Zealand Police confirmed five people have died while tens of others remain unaccounted for after a volcano erupted Monday on an island off New Zealand's North Island.

About 50 people, many of them tourists, are understood to have been on or in the vicinity of White Island at the time of the eruption, and roughly half of them were evacuated.

"Unfortunately I can confirm there are five people now deceased from the eruption," New Zealand Police Deputy Commissioner John Tims told a press conference in Wellington.

Tims said the five people who died were among the 23 already evacuated from the island earlier on Monday.

He said the remaining 18 evacuees all have injuries "to some degree," most of which are understood to be burns.

Police cannot confirm how many people remain on the island as police and emergency services are unable to access the area due to safety concerns, including the risk of more eruptions and volcanic gasses.

When asked during the press conference whether police know if people on the island are still alive, Tims simply answered, "We don't know."

Local media reported that a webcam used to monitor seismic activity on the island spotted people walking near the crater just minutes before the eruption.

New Zealand's geological hazard monitoring system, GeoNet, described the eruption as an "impulsive, short-lived event" that began at 2:11 p.m. local time, sending an ash plume roughly 3,600 meters into the air.

Police said New Zealand nationals and overseas tourists were in the vicinity of the eruption. While officials have not confirmed the nationalities of all involved, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Twitter that Australians were "caught up in the event."

Tims confirmed that some passengers from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship were involved in the incident.

The Ovation of the Seas liner is docked at Tauranga, a coastal city on North Island, about 50 kilometers southwest of White Island and was due to set sail on Monday night, but has since delayed its departure, according to local media reports.

Speaking at an earlier press conference, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the eruption was a "significant issue," particularly the scale of those affected.

Ardern said she will travel to the Bay of Plenty region later Monday.

"I know there will be a huge amount of concern and anxiety for those who have loved ones on or around the island at the time. I can assure them police are doing everything they can," she said.

White Island -- also known as Whakaari in the local indigenous Maori language -- is New Zealand's most active cone volcano and is a popular tourist destination with over 10,000 people visiting each year through daily tours of the site.

source: news.abs-cbn.com