An Australian family of three including a 15-year-old girl is feared dead in the New Zealand volcano disaster.
Gavin Dallow, his wife Lisa Hosking, 48, and her daughter Zoe Hosking, 15, went on a tour of White Island on Monday and have not been heard from since.
The Adelaide lawyer and his family were on a two-week Royal Caribbean cruise that left last Wednesday and stopped in New Zealand.
Five people are confirmed dead with fears for another eight who did not make it off the island before it was too dangerous to continue rescues.
Zoe Hosking, 15, is feared dead in the New Zealand volcano disaster
She, her mother Lisa Hosking, 48, and stepfather Gavin Dallow (pictured together) went on a tour of White Island on Monday and have not been heard from since.
Authorities said there were ‘no signs of life’ when helicopters surveyed the island and everyone still there is presumed dead.
Another 34 people were injured, with 31 still in hospital including several fighting for life with burns to up to 90 per cent of their bodies.
Family confirmed the trio was unaccounted for but there was still some hope they were in hospital and too injured to make contact.
‘They’re unaccounted for that’s all we know. We can only hope that they got off the island,’ Mr Dallow’s cousin Baxter Stone said.
‘You just hope they just lost their phone in panic. The only next thing is you hope they didn’t suffer, people had really bad burns and five died.’
St Aloysius College, where Zoe Hosking is a Year 9 student, said she and her family were missing in the disaster but it had scant details
Mr Dallow owns Dallow legal and Ms Hosking is a petroleum engineer originally form Melbourne
Mr Stone said his cousin was deeply committed to his family and would be ‘missed beyond words’ if he was among the dead.
‘He was always up for an entertaining chat a deep love of sport that saw him umpire football and tennis at the highest levels,’ he said.
‘Gavin with his inquiring mind seem to know everything about anything or anyone especially sport.
‘I’m still hoping it’s all been a mistake sadly that seems less likely as the hours tick by.’
Family is flying to New Zealand to desperately search hospitals for any sign of the missing family.
Some 47 tourists – from New Zealand and overseas – were on or around the crater, located off the coast of the North Island, at the time of the blast. Pictured: Smoke rises into the air after the explosion on Monday
2.00pm: Eleven minutes before the eruption, some of the tourists on White Island are seen walking on the rim of the crater
St Aloysius College, where Zoe Hosking is a Year 9 student, said she and her family were missing in the disaster but it had scant details.
‘Our thoughts and prayers are with Zoe and her family. The SAC Chapel is open and school counsellors are on hand to support students,’ Principal Paddy McEvoy said.
‘We know that you share our sadness at this time. We turn to our loving God to give us strength and courage in the days ahead.’
The family’s cruise was scheduled to head to Wellington then end in Sydney on December 16.
Mr Dallow owns Dallow legal and Ms Hosking is a petroleum engineer originally form Melbourne.
Tourists desperately scramble on to a boat to evacuate the island after the eruption, shortly after 2pm local time
Forty-seven people from Australia, Britain, the US, Malaysia and China were on White Island 50km off New Zealand’s north island when the volcano erupted.
Thirteen Australians are known to be in hospital and 11 are unaccounted for, Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters on Tuesday morning.
‘I fear there is worse news to come over the course of perhaps today or over the next few days,’ he said.
‘This is a terrible tragedy, a time of great innocence and joy interrupted by the horror of that eruption.’
White Island, 48km from the Bay of Plenty region, began erupting about 2.11pm local time
The first confirmed victim of the volcano disaster on a New Zealand tourist island has been named as tour guide Hayden Marshall-Inman (pictured)
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said police and emergency services are focusing on recovering eight bodies, which would take the death toll to 13.
Only one of the dead has been named so far – New Zealand tour guide Hayden Marshall-Inman. Fellow tour guide Tipene Maangi, 24, is also missing.
His grandmother was desperately waiting for news this morning and said he loved his job at the active volcano which attracts 10,000 tourists a year on guided visits where they have to wear mask and helmets.
Mr Morrison said 24 Australians – aged 17 to 72 – were on the island as part of a tour from the Ovation of the Seas cruise ship, which departed from Sydney on December 4 on a trip around New Zealand.