BEVS

White Island volcano has erupted .

" Up to 100 people may have been on White Island when it erupted, spewing plumes of smoke into the air on Monday. "

moneypenny20

there are no fatalities.

spouse of scouse

How terrifying for the people that were on the island. As well as the injured people it's very worrying that there are some people missing. I must admit that I wondered how people could be badly injured from smoke, but that was explained further in the article as pieces of rock and other material in the eruption.

I know these things are a balance between tourism and allowing people to visit the island, and the possibility of an eruption, but I wonder if the island should have been closed to visitors given this part of the article:

GeoNet volcanologist Brad Scott said it was always a surprise when a volcano erupted, but it wasn't completely unexpected.
"But as you are well aware, volcanic unrest has been occurring at White Island for several weeks now, so it's not a total surprise that this has led to a total eruption and we have alluded to this possibility for some time," he said.

We can only hope that all the missing are found and, as MP said, that no one has died.

MrsFychan

unfortunately 1 confirmed dead with possibly further fatalities.
a number of people unaccounted for

MrsFychan

5 confirmed dead now

MrsFychan

just realised that 5 dead from the people that they have managed to get off the island so assuming there will be more

mikelincs

The BBC this morning was quoting that the atmosphere on the Island was very toxic and that rescuers were unable to land to search, also that a number of people had been walking the crater rim just before the eruption. Prayers and thoughts to all involved, either worrying about friends and relatives, or involved in the rescue. I suspect that there will be all sorts of investigations in the future as to why people were still allowed to visit as it was obviously in a dangerous state.

Shard

Such a beautiful island where this human tragedy has occurred. Is it a known erruption risk? Has anyone been there?

I saw some boat footage, where the passenegers are being told to go inside, but surprisingly the boat seems to be going parallell to the island and not away from it. I hope there were no other travellers waiting to be resuced.

Justcol

People choose to go to the crater of an active volcano and are then shocked when it all goes tits up. . . . !!

mikelincs

It certainly has been quite active very recently according to what I've read.

calman014

I am a little puzzled as to the rescue effort.. doesn't NZ have a Navy any more?
Surely a couple of well placed warships with medical facilities on board would have been prudent, as well as helicopters on board...

Alas it seems that quite a lot of people have lost their lives now.

caretaker

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/118...-bay-of-plenty

calman014

Thanks for the update...

Jerseygirl

Tragic. Such a terrible loss of life.

October last year. we sailed very close to White Island. A tour of the volcano was offered by the cruise company. I don’t recall why we didn’t take the tour because I am fascinated by volcanoes.

About 8 years ago we went to the crater of an active volcano, Kilauea in Hawaii. A few months later it started to erupt. Tourists are not allowed anywhere near the crater now. Approx 30 years ago we went on small aircraft tour of the island. The pilot could not fly over the Kilauea’s crater because it was so active and too dangerous.

This October we visited several active volcanoes on NZ’s North Island. In November we did a tour of Mt Teide in Tenerife.

I don’t think I want to visit a volcano again.

Rete

My heart goes out to the families of the over 2 dozen who are presumed dead on the island. No signs of life can be seen from the air so rescue attempts will not be done.