New Zealand volcano eruption leaves 'no signs of life' on island

[Graybeard]

https://www.foxnews.com/world/new-zealand-volcano-white-island-tourist-no-signs-of-life

By Travis Fedschun | Fox News

Authorities scrambling to search for survivors after a volcanic island in New Zealand erupted said Monday that aerial searches have revealed "no signs of life" since the eruption.

The New Zealand police said in a press release early Tuesday morning local time that at least five people died and eight are missing when the eruption took place Monday afternoon on White Island. White Island sits about 30 miles offshore from mainland New Zealand and experts say it's the country's most active cone volcano, with about 70 percent of the volcano lying under the sea.

"Police believe that anyone who could have been taken from the island alive was rescued at the time of the evacuation," police stated. "Based on the information we have, we do not believe there are any survivors on the island."

NEW ZEALAND VOLCANO ERUPTS, AT LEAST 5 DEAD, RESCUERS CAN'T ACCESS ISLAND

Police Deputy Commissioner John Tims said at a news conference there were 47 people on the island when it erupted and that eight remain missing.


This aerial photo shows White Island after its volcanic eruption in New Zealand Monday, Dec. 9, 2019. (George Novak/New Zealand Herald via AP)

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters that 31 people were in seven hospitals, including some in critical condition, while three had been discharged overnight. Arden said the victims include people from New Zealand, Australia, the U.K., the U.S., China and Malaysia.

"We share in your unfathomable grief in this moment and time," Ardern said. "For now, our duty is to return loved ones."

Victims are being treated at hospital burn units throughout the country, according to officials, who added that no additional victims have died since the initial blast on Monday, the New Zealand Herald reported.


In this image released by GeoNet, tourists can be seen near the volcano's crater Monday, Dec. 9, 2019, on White Island, New Zealand. (GNS Science via AP)

"The focus has to be on those who are...critically injured and, of course, what is now a recovery [mission]," Ardern said, adding, "It is a very unpredictable volcano."

Police said that a pilot who was called out to the scene spent about 45 minutes about the island and reported there were no signs of life. Rescuers have reported that the volcano has generated "significant" ash that is impeding efforts to return to the island.

"The experts that we've spoken to have said it is unsafe for us to go on that island. The island is unstable, the physical environment is unsafe for us to return to the island," Tims told reporters. "It is important that we consider the health and safety of those that will return to the island."


Police said in a news release their response has shifted to a recovery operation, and that a ship from the New Zealand Defense Forces will approach the perimeter of the island at first light on Tuesday to deploy drones and observational equipment to further assess the environment.


A total of 37 passengers and one crew member from the Royal Caribbean International cruise ship Ovation of the Seas were affected by the blast, according to police.

“A number of our guests were touring the island today," the company said. “We will offer all possible assistance to our guests and local authorities. Please keep all those affected in your prayers.”

The cruise ship, which had left Sydney last week, was scheduled to sail to the capital Wellington on Monday night but the company said it would instead remain in the Tauranga port overnight until it learned more about the situation.


“My god,” wrote Michael Schade on Twitter as he posted a video of the eruption. “My family and I had gotten off it 20 minutes before, were waiting at our boat about to leave when we saw it. Boat ride home tending to people our boat rescued was indescribable.”

Scott said one woman was badly injured but seemed “strong” by the end.

Ardern, who traveled to the region late Monday, said the incident was “very significant."

“All our thoughts are with those affected,” she said.

Ardern said the focus remained on the search-and-rescue mission for now and questions about whether tourists should be visiting would be addressed later. But many people are questioning why tourists were still able to visit the island after scientists recently noted an uptick in volcanic activity.

The GeoNet agency, which monitors volcanoes and earthquakes in New Zealand, had raised the alert level on White Island from 1 to 2 on Nov. 18, noting an increase in the amount of sulfur dioxide gas, which originates from magma deep in the volcano. It also said at the time that over the previous weeks, the volcanic tremor had increased from weak to moderate strength.

Brad Scott, a volcanologist with research group GNS Science, said the alert level was often raised and then later dropped again without any eruption. He said there hadn't been any major incidents with tourists visiting the island in the past, although there had been some close calls


GeoNet at first raised its alert level to 4, on a scale where 5 represents a major eruption. It later dropped the alert level back down to 3. Scott said that was because the eruption wasn't sustained beyond the initial blast.


“In the scheme of things, for volcanic eruptions, it is not large," Ken Gledhill from GeoNet told the Associated Press. “But if you were close to that, it is not good.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[Argent 88]

 I read where a newly wed couple on a sailboat enjoying their honeymoon were near that island when the
volcano erupted. They said it nearly got them, it was a close call.

[Graybeard]

Didn't nearly get them, it got them big time. He is burned over 80%-90% of his body and I believe she's burned over about 40% of hers. I'd say it got them pretty darn badly.

[Argent 88]

The ones on the boat?

[Graybeard]

I think they were on a boat. They were Americans there on vacation.

Here is the article on them:

A Virginia couple who were on their honeymoon in New Zealand are among those severely injured after a volcano violently erupted Monday.

The newlyweds, Lauren and Matt Urey of Richmond, were touring the White Island volcano on the Royal Caribbean cruise Ovation of the Seas, according to WTVR-TV.

Lauren’s mother, Barbara Barham, told The Washington Post while leaving Virginia to New Zealand that she had no idea what happened until Royal Caribbean called her a little after midnight Eastern time on Monday.

Then she got a call from Matt’s mother who said she received a voicemail from her son saying that the couple was severely burned and taken to the hospital.


In a statement sent to USA TODAY on Tuesday, Royal Caribbean said the company is communicating with guests and their families in the aftermath of the tragedy.

“We’re making sure they are taken care of in terms of medical help, counseling, accommodations and transport,” the company said. “Our hearts go out to them, and we want to be as supportive as we can.”

The Washington Post reported that Lauren is recovering in an Auckland hospital while Matt was airlifted to a hospital in Christchurch.

GeoNet had raised its alert level on White Island from one to two on Nov. 18 as sulfur dioxide gas increased.

Early warning signs:Why were tourists on White Island after volcanic activity increased?

According to GeoNet, a level two warning means there are "unrest hazards on the volcano and could include eruptions of steam, gas, mud and rocks. These eruptions can occur with little or no warning."

GeoNet had been providing updates on the volcanic unrest on the island in the days leading up to the eruption.

Many people were left questioning why tourists were allowed to visit the island after seismic monitoring experts raised the volcano's alert level last month.

Royal Caribbean did not directly comment on the warnings.

Relatives told WTVR that 32-year-old Lauren and 36-year-old Matt are a “sweet couple.” According to details hosted on the wedding website The Knot, they were married on Oct. 18 in Charleston, South Carolina.


New Zealand volcano eruption:Royal Caribbean cruise nearby, other travel effects

The couple is one of the 30 people hospitalized after Monday's eruption. Five people died at the time of the blast or soon after, while a sixth person died Tuesday night local time at an Auckland hospital.

Another eight people are believed to have died, with their bodies remaining on the ash-covered island for now. At least 47 people were on the island at the time of the eruption.

Matthew sustained burns to around 80 percent of his body, while Lauren suffered burns to about 25 percent of her body and is facing surgery, family members told the television station. The family is now on the way to New Zealand to be with the "sweet couple."

[powderman]

I believe that God has been talking to us for a long time, we need to pay attention and listen.  CHARLIE. 

[BUGEYE]

I flew into Portland Oregon shortly after Mount ST. Helens erupted and the ash there was deep in gutters and low places.

[Ranger99]

just me
i don't understand the folks these days that just have
to gawk at something that is deadly and life threatening,
then boo-hoo when they get injured or loved ones die a
horrible death because of it.
selfies on a cliff, swimming with sharks, photos standing
next to a dangerous animal, those pinheads doing gymnastic
moves on a high-rise building ledge or crane hundreds of
feet in the air, skiing down a for sure avalanche area, etc. etc.


hot lava can be over a thousand degree F, and a volcano
can spew hot ash something like 50 miles away, so why
would any sensible person risk getting severely burned
and likely sure death ?
i can say for sure that if a small bit of molten red hot
metal or rock were to splatter on you that you'd be severely
dead. imagine red hot welding spatter on your skin times
ten thousand. it'd burn right through the sheet metal on
a car or a boat top

[Graybeard]

Here is an update on this:

Authorities in New Zealand added two more people to the death toll following Monday's volcanic eruption, bringing the number of dead to 16 as plans to recover bodies still on the ash-covered area were delayed.

The two who were added to the death toll had been hospitalized, authorities said Thursday. The bodies of eight others presumed dead are believed to be on White Island, where the blast occurred. Six others were confirmed dead.

Around 28 people remain hospitalized and another 23 were listed in critical condition, authorities said.


While 26 of the patients had burns covering at least 30 percent of their bodies, others had suffered burns to over 90 percent of their bodies, Dr. John Kenealy, clinical director of Surgery and Perioperative Services at Middlemore Hospital, told reporters.

John Bonning, president of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, told the New Zealand Herald he could smell sulfur on the victims' clothing as he wheeled patients into the Waikato Hospital following the eruption.

He said he was shocked as their bodies shed "bits of dead skin" and "broken ash."

"It was awful, just horrific,” said Bonning, who likened it to a war zone.

Australia was sending a military plane to bring some of its injured citizens back home for special medical care. They were expected to be transported to the states of New South Wales or Victoria beginning Thursday.

New Zealand has ordered nearly 1,300 square feet of skin from the United States to treat dozens of severe burn victims. Multiple burn units in hospitals across the country were at full capacity, Dr. Peter Watson, chief medical officer with Counties Manukau Health, said Wednesday.

Volcanic tremors on the island had intensified to a level not seen since 2016, the GeoNet seismic monitoring agency said. Another tremor has a 40 to 60 percent chance of occurring within the next 24 hours, the agency said.

Authorities believe nearly 50 tourists from various countries were on the island when Monday's eruption happened, sending survivors into the sea to escape the scalding ash. Many were passengers aboard the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Ovation of the Seas and emerged with burns.

White Island had been mined for sulfur until a 1914 accident in which at least 10 people were killed and a landslide destroyed the miners' village and the mine itself. It became a private scenic reserve in 1953 and attracts more than 10,000 visitors annually.

Some questioned why tourists were allowed on the island after semic monitoring experts raised the volcano's alert level last month.

[Argent 88]

Maybe that couple meant they had barely escaped with they're lives. There were other people on that boat,
nothing has been reported about them. It never said if the boat was underway or moored.


It sounds like the survival rate was very poor. It was the wife who was talking to Fox News, not the husband.
That article says he was 90% burned, thats critical and life threatening.

[powderman]

Some questioned why tourists were allowed on the island after semic monitoring experts raised the volcano's alert level last month.

Easy answer, MONEY. CHARLIE. 

[goodshot]

     Life got real for a lot of people, in a hurry.
Thanks for the post and reports.