Recovery teams return to White Island to try and locate two missing bodies as 21-year-old Melbourne student is confirmed dead
- Two bodies remain missing in the White Island volcano disaster as of Sunday
- Six of eight bodies were recovered from the island in a search operation Friday
- One victim was formally identified as Melbourne woman Krystal Browitt, 21
A recovery team has returned to New Zealand’s White Island in a bid to retrieve the remains of those still missing after a volcanic eruption.
Six bodies were taken off the island on Friday in a high-stakes mission following Monday’s eruption, which is believed to have killed 16, including at least nine Australians.
Two bodies are still missing. Police and navy divers searched unsuccessfully off the volcanic island on Saturday.
Police deputy commissioner John Tims said search divers faced ‘unique and challenging conditions’ as they searched waters ‘with between zero and two metres visibility’
A diver is pictured preparing to search the waters off White Island on Saturday for bodies – a day after that of Ms Browitt was believed to have been recovered from the disaster scene by elite NZ Defence Force soldiers
Two teams of four search and rescue and disaster victim identification staff were taken to the island by helicopter on Sunday morning, NZ police said.
‘These police staff will be deployed to an area of the island where our best information suggests a body might be,’ Deputy Commissioner John Tims said in a statement.
While they are wearing the same protective clothing as the defence force personnel involved in Friday’s effort, differences in their breathing apparatus mean they will only be able to stay on the island for up to 75 minutes.
‘We remain committed to finishing the task at hand and returning the two remaining bodies to their loved ones,’ Deputy Commissioner Tims said.
Nine Australians are confirmed dead, two are presumed to have died and 13 are in hospital with severe burns.
However that may change, with NZ police confirming on Saturday evening that another victim of the blast had died in hospital, without offering further details.
Krystal Eve Browitt, 21, (pictured) has been formally identified as the first Australian victim of Monday’s White Island volcano disaster
All four members of the Hollander family from Sydney are believed to have been killed in the White Island volcano eruption (pictured L-R Barbara, Matthew, Berend and Martin Hollander)