Police in New Zealand have launched a criminal investigation after White Island erupted, leaving Two British women in hospital and killing up to 13 people.
The two women were among 47 people on White Island, a volcanic tourist island also known as Whakaari, when it erupted with a large plume of ash and steam at 2.11pm on Monday.
As horrific details emerged about the eruption – in which most victims suffered severe burns – New Zealand Police Deputy Commissioner John Tims announced the investigation as questions emerged over why tour groups were allowed into the volcano zone despite scientists’ warnings of increased activity.
‘I can confirm now that we will commence a criminal investigation into the circumstances of the death and injuries on White Island,’ Mr Tims told a press conference, adding the probe would run parallel to an investigation by WorkSafe New Zealand.
Of the 47 people, 34 were rescued from the island and 31 of them remain in hospital, some of them critically wounded. Five are dead, leaving eight unaccounted for.
UK high commissioner Laura Clarke did not give details of the two British women’s injuries, but many people have suffered severe burns.
Tourists from Australia, the US, China and Malaysia are also missing or wounded along with New Zealanders, prime minister Jacinda Ardern revealed.
Footage taken from helicopters showed ‘no signs of life’, according to New Zealand police, who said they do not expect to find any more survivors.
The disaster immediately raised questions about why tourists were allowed to visit the island, after the volcanic alert level had been raised just weeks earlier.
Ms Ardern said it was a ‘very unpredictable volcano’ and said questions about tourism would be ‘answered by the appropriate authorities’, but said ‘for now we’re focused on those who are caught up in this horrific event’.
Smoke and ash: An aerial view of White Island in New Zealand after an eruption on Monday which has killed at least five people and left two British women injured in hospital
Eruption: Tourists on a boat watch smoke and ash rising from White Island, a volcanic island also known as Whakaari, after the natural disaster on Monday which has killed at least five people with eight others missing
Whakaari also known as White Island, 48km (29mi) located off New Zealand’s North Island, erupted around 2.11pm local time on Monday blowing huge plumes of smoke and debris 12,000 ft into the sky
At least five people died in the eruption, another eight are missing and 31 people are injured in hospital
Search and rescue: Coastguard rescue boats arrive on the mainland near White Island following the volcanic eruption
2.00pm: Eleven minutes before the eruption, some of the tourists on White Island are seen walking on the rim of the crater
2.10pm: The tour group is seen further along the path just a minute before the volcano erupted
Tourists desperately scramble on to a boat to evacuate the island after the eruption, shortly after 2pm local time
The active volcano, 30 miles off the coast of New Zealand, is a tourist hotspot but has erupted several times before, most recently in 2016.
On November 18, White Island’s volcanic alert level was raised to Level 2 on a scale of zero to five after scientists noticed an uptick in volcanic activity.
Level 2 covers ‘moderate to heightened volcanic unrest’, with warnings of ‘potential for eruption hazards’, but White Island remained open to tourists.
After the disaster, GeoNet raised its alert to Level 4, but it has since fallen back to three.
‘White Island has been a disaster waiting to happen for many years,’ said Ray Cas, a professor emeritus at Monash University, in comments published by the Australian Science Media Centre.
‘Having visited it twice, I have always felt that it was too dangerous to allow the daily tour groups that visit the uninhabited island volcano by boat and helicopter.’
Judy Turner, mayor of Whakatane, a town on the mainland near White Island, confirmed there had been three eruptions from the volcano and that more activity was ‘unpredictable’.
Rescuers have so far been unable to get on to the island due to fears of landslides and further eruptions. Police will now assess whether they can remove bodies from the island on Tuesday.
Police official Bruce Bird said today that a helicopter had scoured the island for 45 minutes to search for survivors, saying: ‘We do not believe anybody else has survived that explosion.’
Officers said a New Zealand naval ship will approach the shore and deploy drones and ‘observational equipment’ to scour the island as soon as the sun comes up.
However, authorities do not expect to find any further survivors. ‘Police believe that anyone who could have been taken from the island alive was rescued at the time of the evacuation,’ a statement said.
The first dead victim to be named was tour guide Hayden Marshall-Inman. His brother Mark Inman said the victim had ‘passed away doing the one thing he loved’.
Friends of Mr Marshall-Inman immediately paid tribute to ‘the biggest guy with the biggest heart’ and said he was ‘one of the nicest blokes I’ll ever know’.
Another tourist recalled a happy memory of the tour guide, saying ‘his kind spirit and warmth was my favourite part of our trip to New Zealand’.
Hayden Marshall-Inman (pictured) was confirmed dead by his brother, Mark Inman, who said the victim had ‘passed away doing the one thing he loved’
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern (right, with police official Bruce Bird) revealed that tourists from Britain, America, China and Malaysia were among the missing and injured along with New Zealanders
One of the tour helicopters was destroyed after the volcanic eruption on White Island
Tourist Michael Schade said he and his family were on the volcano just 20 minutes before it erupted and witnessed the blast as they were leaving the island (pictured)
Police say that everyone who could have been taken off the island alive was saved at the time, and anyone left on the island after the initial eruption has died
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern walks with police superintendent Bruce Bird on a visit to Whakatane on Monday
At her news conference on Tuesday morning, Ms Ardern revealed that some of the injured tourists are critically wounded with severe burns.
‘To those who have lost or are missing family and friends we share in your unfathomable grief at this moment in time and in your sorrow,’ she said.
‘Your loved ones stood alongside Kiwis who are hosting you here and we grieve with you and we grieve with them.’
Ms Ardern also praised the ‘courageous response’ of emergency workers as she explained how some of the tourists had been evacuated.
‘It is now clear there were two groups on the island, those who were able to be evacuated and those who were close to the eruption,’ she said.
UK prime minister Boris Johnson said tonight he had been in contact with Ms Ardern, offering his ‘deepest sympathies’ over the ‘devastating scenes in New Zealand’.
High commissioner Laura Clarke said her team are offering assistance to the family of two British women hospitalised by the volcanic eruption.
‘We are supporting the family of two (UK) women who have been hospitalised in New Zealand,’ she wrote on Twitter.
‘My team are deploying to offer assistance in person, & we remain in close contact with (NZ) authorities. We will do all we can to help any other Brits who need our help.’
The White Island Tour operators are seen helping to rescue people from the island, about 12 to 14 minutes after the eruption
A rescue helicopter arrives at Whakatane Airport, on the mainland of New Zealand’s North Island 30 miles from the volcano
White Island, 48km from the Bay of Plenty region, began erupting about 2.11pm local time
Tony Bonne, former mayor of the nearby town of Whakatane, said that a guide for the White Island Tours company was among those killed. This was later revealed to be Mr Marshall-Inman.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said 24 Australians were visiting the island at the time of the disaster, while three Britons were also listed among the missing by worried family and friends on the International Committee of the Red Cross website.
Most of the Australians caught up in the disaster are thought to have been passengers on board the Ovation of the Seas cruise liner, which departed Sydney last week.
Speaking earlier on Monday, Ardern said there were ‘a number of tourists’ from her country and overseas on the island at the time.
‘I know there will be a huge amount of 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,’ Ardern said.
Royal Caribbean, owner of Ovation of the Seas, issued a statement saying the ship would stay in the nearby port of Tauranga overnight ‘until we learn more about the situation’.
The cruise operator had had sold a day trip to White Island as an ‘unforgettable’ adventure, one that took visitors so close to the action they could require gas masks and hard hats.
White Island is New Zealand’s most active volcano and had seen its last major eruption in 2001, with smaller events over the years until now.
Twelve people were killed on the island in 1914 when it was being mined for sulphur. Part of a crater wall collapsed and a landslide destroyed the miners’ village and the mine itself.
The remains of buildings from another mining enterprise in the 1920s are now a tourist attraction. The island became a private scenic reserve in 1953, and daily tours allow more than 10,000 people to visit every year.
‘It was not a particularly big eruption, it was almost like a throat clearing eruption and that’s why material probably won’t make it to mainland New Zealand,’ Dr Ken Gledhill of GeoNet said.
‘We can’t be certain it won’t erupt again in the next 24 hours,’ he said. ‘In the scheme of things, for volcanic eruptions, it is not large. But if you were close to that, it is not good.’
Handout images from a webcam belonging to the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences shows the volcano on New Zealand’s White Island spewing steam and ash
An aerial view of the volcano shows thick smoke billowing from the crater, which has been a permanent feature of the island for decades
Emergency services attend to an injured person arriving at the Whakatane Airfield after the volcanic eruption
A person wrapped in a blanket is comforted by emergency services personnel following an eruption of the White Island volcano
Emergency services attend to an injured person arriving at the Whakatane Airfield after the volcanic eruption
A camera of the crater’s rim, run by monitoring agency GeoNet, set to take pictures every 10 minutes showed a string of people visiting the crater at 2.10pm on Monday.
The next shot taken, at 2.20pm, was unreadable as the blast had rendered the camera inoperable.
Tourist Michael Schade said he and his family were on the volcano just 20 minutes before it erupted and witnessed the blast as they were leaving the island.
‘This is so hard to believe. Our whole tour group were literally standing at the edge of the main crater not 30 minutes before. My thoughts with the families of those currently unaccounted for, the people recovering now, and especially the rescue workers,’ he said on Twitter.
‘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.
‘Praying for them and their recovery. Woman my mom tended to was in critical condition but seemed strong by the end. The helicopters on the island looked destroyed.
Allessandro Kauffmann, a Brazilian tourist who was in the first tour group for the morning said his group left the island ‘just in time’.
‘Some people have extensive burns on their bodies. Two tours on the volcano. Ours was the first. The other one right after. We left the island and wasn’t even five minutes before it erupted. This other tour that arrived after couldn’t leave in time,’ he said in an Instagram post.
Coastguard rescue boats are pictured alongside the marina near Whakatane on Monday
Coastguard rescue boats are pictured alongside the marina near Whakatane, where the injured were brought following the volcanic eruption
Pictured: An abandoned sulphur factory on the island, which is known for its frequent explosions