New Zealand volcano: Brisbane mother and daughter are confirmed dead

An Australian mother and daughter have been named among the dead in New after a volcano erupted in New Zealand, killing at least six. 

Julie Richards, 47, and her daughter Jessica, 20, from Brisbane, were named by 9News on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Jesse Langford, 19, has been identified among the injured in hospital but his condition is not clear, according to 7News.

His parents Anthony and Kristine and 17-year-old sister Winona, from north Sydney, are still listed as missing. 

Both families toured the volcano on Monday as part of a cruise holiday.

On Tuesday night relatives of the Langfords, who are on the way to New Zealand, said they were yet to hear from the family and feared the worst. 

Found: Jesse Langford (pictured with Michelle Spring, believed to be his girlfriend) is in hospital but his condition is not clear

Jesse (pictured with his father and sisters) is a former student at Marist College North Shore

Jesse (pictured with his father and sisters) is a former student at Marist College North Shore

‘We know that they went on a cruise on the island and there’s an explosion and they’re missing,’ Mr Langford’s brother Rodney told The Daily Telegraph.  

‘I’m hoping somebody knows anything, has seen my brother, knows my brother.’

Jesse is a former student at Marist College North Shore, which on Tuesday released a statement saying his whereabouts were unknown. 

He had studied at the school since Year 7 and graduated last year, Principal Tony Duncan told students and parents.  

Jesse Langford's parents and 17-year-old sister, from north Sydney, are still listed as missing. The family (pictured together) toured the volcano on Monday as part of a cruise holiday

Jesse Langford’s parents and 17-year-old sister, from north Sydney, are still listed as missing. The family (pictured together) toured the volcano on Monday as part of a cruise holiday

The Langford family (pictured) toured the volcano on Monday as part of a cruise holiday

The Langford family (pictured) toured the volcano on Monday as part of a cruise holiday

There were 47 people on the island when the volcano erupted. Six have been confirmed dead. Thirty are injured, with 25 in critical condition.   

Officials are debating whether to launch a rescue mission for eight people presumed dead on the island, whose nationalities have not been revealed, as experts say more eruptions today are ‘likely’. 

Drones flew over the island at 8.30am this morning and police are now liaising with scientists. Commercial pilot Mark Law, who rescued people on Monday, offered to retrieve the bodies but police refused to let him go.

Not all the hospitalised victims have been identified because their injuries are so horrific. 

Police Minister Stuart Nash told RNZ: ‘As you can imagine there are a number in hospital who cannot communicate because they have had significant burns not only to skin but to internal organs.’

‘They cannot speak in any way, shape or form.’  

Some of the locals were seen waving and holding up signs as the ship departed at 7am on Wednesday morning

Some of the locals were seen waving and holding up signs as the ship departed at 7am on Wednesday morning

Tour guide killed in White Island eruption feared it would blow

A tour guide who died in the White Island eruption said he feared the volatile volcano would blow in a prophetic video taken by a tourist on an earlier trip to the volcano. 

Hayden Marshall-Inman was one of the guides for a group of 38 cruise ship passengers who were exploring the volcano in New Zealand when the deadly eruption happened at 2.11pm on Monday.

Mr Marshall-Inman, who had worked as a tour guide for several years, was well aware of the risks associated with his job.

‘Last September is the most nervous I’ve ever been,’ Mr Marshall-Inman can be heard saying in footage taken by a tourist in July, 2018.

‘There was an ash eruption I could definitely feel the nerves inside me for sure.’

In the footage, Mr Marshall-Inman can be seen driving the boat towards the island as he chatted with the tourist. 

Mr Marshall-Inman was the first confirmed victim of the disaster.

Acting Assistant Commissioner Bruce Bird said three coroners are working with disaster victim identification specialists to identify victims. The dead have been taken to Auckland for post-mortems.

Police also said their announcement on Tuesday of a criminal investigation was a ‘slip of the tongue’ and the officer speaking to reporters actually meant a coronial investigation which is under way. Police Minister Nash said it is possible that a criminal investigation may be launched later.

Meanwhile, the island’s Volcanic Alert Level remains at level three amid fears of more eruptions.

‘Since around 4am this morning the level of volcanic tremor has significantly increased at the island,’ GeoNet said in a statement. 

Locals gather to wave off the Ovation of the Seas cruise ship, which carried passengers who travelled to White Island when it erupted, in the Port of Tauranga on Wednesday

Locals gather to wave off the Ovation of the Seas cruise ship, which carried passengers who travelled to White Island when it erupted, in the Port of Tauranga on Wednesday

The Ovation of the Seas ship, which left Sydney on 4 December to tour New Zealand, departed the Bay of Plenty to continue its journey at 7am on Wednesday morning as teary locals waved it off

The Ovation of the Seas ship, which left Sydney on 4 December to tour New Zealand, departed the Bay of Plenty to continue its journey at 7am on Wednesday morning as teary locals waved it off

Three dead, eight missing: The Australian toll so far

  • 24 Australians were on a tour of White Island, also known as Whakaari, when an active volcano erupted on Monday, spewing smoke, ash and debris thousands of metres into the air.  
  • The Australians were on a day trip from the Royal Caribbean cruise liner Ovation of the Seas. 
  • They are aged between 17 and 72 years.
  • At least three of those people are now believed to be dead. These deaths are still to be confirmed.
  • 11 Australians, including the dead, are still unaccounted for. Some may be on the island, others may be unidentified in hospital.
  • Many more have been reported as missing by desperate families.  
  • Thirteen Australians identified in hospital have been taken to multiple hospitals around the town of Whakatane on New Zealand’s North Island.
  • Australians listed as missing include: Gavin Dallow and Zoe Hosking, from Adelaide; The Hollander family of four, from Sydney; the Langford family of four minus son Jesse who is in hospital, from Sydney; Karla Mathews and Richard Elzer from Coffs Harbour; Jessica and Julie Richards, from Brisbane; Krystal Browitt, from Melbourne.
Julie Richards, 47, and her daughter Jessica, 20, (pictured) from Brisbane are among the missing. Ms Richards' sister Barbara Whitehead told the ABC she has heard nothing and is 'overwhelmed'

Julie Richards, 47, and her daughter Jessica, 20, (pictured) from Brisbane are among the missing. Ms Richards’ sister Barbara Whitehead told the ABC she has heard nothing and is ‘overwhelmed’

Lisa Dallow's 15-year-old daughter Zoe (pictured)

Gavin Dallow, from Adelaide, is still unaccounted for

Lisa Dallow and her husband Gavin (right) 53, and 15-year-old daughter Zoe, from Adelaide, (left) are missing

Couple Karla Mathews, 32, and Richard Elzer, 32, from Coffs Harbour, NSW, remain missing

Couple Karla Mathews, 32, and Richard Elzer, 32, from Coffs Harbour, NSW, remain missing

‘This has been accompanied by vigorous steaming and localised mud jetting in several of the craters created by the eruption on Monday.

‘We interpret these signals as evidence of continued high gas pressures within the volcano. The situation remains highly uncertain as to future activity. Eruptions in the next 24 hours are still likely to occur.’ 

Police have been accused of being too cautious for waiting to recover those feared dead on the island prompted some criticism authorities are being too cautious.

‘We cannot put other people in jeopardy to go out there until we’re absolutely certain that the island is actually safe,’ said Acting Assistant Commissioner Bruce Bird.

Mark Law, a private helicopter operator who rescued victims on Monday, said he thought conditions had been favourable and a recovery operation could be completed in about 90 minutes.

‘For us, it’s 20 minutes to get out there. We could load those folks on and be back here in an hour and a half,’ he told the AM show on Three television.

‘I know where they all are, and the conditions are perfect for recovery in my mind.’

Whakatāne Mayor Judy Turner said she wants tourist trips to White Island to continue – but said officials will need to decide at what level of threat they must be cancelled. The volcano was at threat level two – on a scale of zero to five – when it erupted.     

How are burns victims treated? 

The 13 Australians rescued from White Island in New Zealand after a major volcanic eruption are being treated for ‘severe’ burns.

The severity of a burn is measured by the depth and size or the destruction caused to the skin.

A number of the victims, who were wearing summer clothing when they toured the active volcano on Monday, have suffered burns on up to 80 per cent of their bodies and are being treated in specialised units across NZ.

Many also ingested ash and volcanic gases, resulting in horrific injuries to their lungs and airways, leaving them unable to talk.

They likely suffered third-degree or ‘full thickness’ burns, which damages tissue deep under the skin causing extreme pain although there might be numbness due to the destruction of pain centres in the body.

Treatment involves IV intake of fluids and antibiotics to prevent infection and later on, natural or synthetic skin grafts.

But there’s also the possibility of fourth-degree burns, which affects the body right down to the bone.

The pain of burning is one of the most intense a human body can experience and also requires a sophisticated treatment regime.

The extent of adult burns is measured by rules assigning a percentage to nine sections of the body and adding up how many are affected. 

Risking their lives, rescuers evacuated 39 survivors in the aftermath before conditions were deemed too dangerous for them to land

Risking their lives, rescuers evacuated 39 survivors in the aftermath before conditions were deemed too dangerous for them to land

White Island, also known as Whakaari, erupted at 2.11pm local time on Monday when 47 tourists were on or around the volcano crater (pictured: Tourists on a boat during the eruption)

White Island, also known as Whakaari, erupted at 2.11pm local time on Monday when 47 tourists were on or around the volcano crater (pictured: Tourists on a boat during the eruption)

WHITE ISLAND: ‘A DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN’  

New Zealand’s deadly volcano eruption was ‘a disaster waiting to happen’, with an expert saying the tourists who walked into the crater were trapped.

Monash University Emeritus Professor Ray Cas was sharply critical of the access for tourists on the island.

‘White Island has been a disaster waiting to happen for many years,’ he said in a statement.

He also spoke of the dangers for anyone in the crater when the volcano erupted.

‘The people were actually inside the crater, right adjacent to the vents of the volcano – that’s the issue,’ he told the ABC on Tuesday.

‘They are in this very confined space and when the event occurs there is actually nowhere to go.

‘There would have been huge blocks of rock flying at ballistic speeds, a lot of ash and gas released making visibility zero, so people would not have known where to go.’

The professor said hot rock debris and crater waters would have severely burned the people caught in the eruption.

NZ experts said on Tuesday the volcano was on the second-highest alert level before the eruption, given monitoring indicators had increased.

‘The scientists got it right and it was just really unfortunate timing,’ Professor Cas said.

‘You have a confluence of many volcanic acids within this very confined space making it very difficult to go anywhere if an event does occur.’

A ‘highly volatile environment’ remains for the next 24 hours with a 50-50 chance of another eruption, GNS Science volcanologist Graham Leonard said.

‘Over the next 24 hours, we estimate there is a 50 per cent chance of a smaller or similar sized eruption, and therefore a 50 per cent chance of no eruption,’ the NZ expert told reporters.

‘We estimate a larger eruption is unlikely. However this is a highly volatile environment and any predictions have to be seen in that context.’

The institute had put out volcanic alert bulletins indicating the volcano was more active and there was an increased likelihood of eruption.

It appears hot water and the steam destabilisation caused the eruption, Mr Leonard said.

REVEALED: Volcano island had a 2.4 tonne metal shipping container as a safety bunker from eruptions… but did tourists even know it was there? 

Officials put a metal shipping container on White Island that was supposed to act as an emergency bunker if the volcano erupted when tourists were visiting. 

The metal shipping container was installed on the island in 2016 by the New Zealand Defence Force in an old mine shaft and filled with the and which was supposed to act as an emergency bunker in case of an eruption.

A press release about the 2.4-tonne container’s placement on the island said there would be safety gear, spare clothing, food and other emergency and rescue items inside the shelter.   

White Island Flights operations manager George Walker told Stuff said he’d often wondered why the container was placed 500 metres from the lake, which was too far for tourists in the event of an eruption.  

White Island featured a metal shipping container which was supposed to act as an emergency bunker in case of an eruption

White Island featured a metal shipping container which was supposed to act as an emergency bunker in case of an eruption

It’s not clear whether any of the tourists on the island made it to the shelter when the volcano erupted at 2.11pm on Monday, killing at least 14, but police do not believe there are any surviviors on the island.  

The revelations about the shelter have also raised questions about whether the tourists would have even known it was there.  

Stuff travel reporter, Brook Sabin, who visited the island earlier this year, said he was unaware there was an emergency shelter on the island 

‘I thought that would have been one of the most important pieces of information for us to know.

‘We were given gas masks – mainly for comfort – but no information on what to do in the event of an eruption.’

However, it is not clear anyone made it to the shelter when the piping-hot steam, gas and ash spewed into the sky at 2.11pm local time on Monday

However, it is not clear anyone made it to the shelter when the piping-hot steam, gas and ash spewed into the sky at 2.11pm local time on Monday 

 

 



Read more at DailyMail.co.uk