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.
It has been revealed 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.’
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’
In the footage, Mr Marshall-Inman can be seen driving the boat towards the island as he chatted with the tourist.
Mr Marshall-Inman, who was an experienced guide with a passion for adventure and spent much of his time in the outdoors and loved diving and fishing, was the first confirmed victim of the disaster.
His brother Mark Inman issued a statement confirming his death earlier this week.
‘Friends and family, very sad news this evening. My bro Hayden Marshall-Inman has past away doing the one thing he loved. Thanks for all your messages.’
There were 47 people on the island when the volcano erupted. Of the 34 who were rescued, 30 are injured, with 25 in a critical condition.
Six have been confirmed dead, with eight still unaccounted for.
The eruption has raised questions about why tourists were allowed to visit the island, after the volcanic alert level had been raised just weeks earlier.
New Zealand Police Deputy Commissioner John Tims said officers are trying to return bodies to grieving families.
Tourists from Australia, the US, China and Malaysia are missing or wounded along with New Zealanders, prime minister Jacinda Ardern revealed.
Hayden Marshall-Inman (pictured centre) told a group of tourists last September was the ‘most nervous he had ever been’ as there was an ash eruption
Friends of tour guide Hayden Marshall-Inman (pictured) immediately paid tribute to ‘the biggest guy with the biggest heart’ and said he was ‘one of the nicest blokes I’ll ever know’
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’.
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.
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)
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’.
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
One of the tour helicopters appeared destroyed after the volcanic eruption on White Island