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New Zealand volcano: tourists injured and missing after eruption on White Island – live New Zealand volcano: one dead and 'likely to be more' after eruption on White Island – live
(32 minutes later)
NZ prime minister Jacinda Ardern says situation at Whakaari in the Bay of Plenty is ‘significant and evolving’ after volcano erupts. Follow the latest updates At least one person has died after volcano erupted suddenly while dozens of tourists were on the island. Follow the latest updates
A still from one of the videos of the island shows a helicopter on its side.
Former prime minister Helen Clark has shared her condolences.
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs says it is making “urgent enquiries” to find out if any Australians were affected by the eruption. However, it does not have any information to share at present.
Breaking from Eleanor Ainge Roy:
Kevin O’Sullivan, the chief executive officer of the New Zealand Cruise Association confirmed that a tour party of 30 to 38 people from cruise ship Ovation of the Seas were on a tour of White Island today, and had not returned.
He said the passengers names and nationalities were now being handed to police, and the Ovation of the Seas would stay docked in Tauranga at least overnight.
“I know the cruise ship will be able to compile a list of the tour party and they will be handing that to New Zealand police, and the police will then make a statement on the nationalities,” he said.
“Our hope of course is they will be recovered unharmed and returned back to the ship.”
Earlier, the operations director for St John Ambulance told Radio NZ that seven people – out of those taken off the island – were critically injured.
Norma Lane confirmed the figures to the Checkpoint program.
In that press conference, deputy commissioner Tims said that some of the tourists on the island were from cruise ship Ovation of the Seas.
“From my understanding, some of the tourists are from a cruise ship so we should have a list of people that left the cruise ship and potentially are on the island. There are ways for us to have that list confirmed.”
He was then asked if all the people on the island were from the cruise ship. He says: “We don’t believe so”.
Last question to Ardern and the police. A reporter asks if “27 people could be dead”.
“We don’t have a full clarity at this point,” Ardern says. “You understand why we are loath to get into speculation”.
Dr Ken Glairdhill from GNS Science is now speaking about the eruption.
“It was not a particularly big eruption,” he says. “It was almost like a throat-clearing eruption.”
He says it is unlikely, but possible, there could be secondary eruptions.
“It showed increased activity for the lsat few weeks, so we raised the alert level. But it looks like mostly, there will be an eruption like this, then a moment of quiescence.
“But we can’t be certain there wont be another eruption in the next 24 hours.”
Tims says it is still too dangerous for police and rescue services to go onto the island – so they are still unclear how many people remain on the island.
23 people have been taken from the island. There were fewer than 50 people on the island at the time of the eruption.
“Some of these people have been transported to shore, however there is a number still remaining on the island who are currently unaccounted for,” Tims said.
“We are working to confirm the numbers involved. At this stage, it is too dangerous for police and rescue services to go to the island. However, we continue to assess the conditions which would allow us togo onto the island.
“The island is currently covered in ash and volcanic material. We are taking expert advice with regards to the safety of any rescue attempt.”
Police Deputy Commissioner John Tims has confirmed that one person has died.Police Deputy Commissioner John Tims has confirmed that one person has died.
“And based on information we have, there are likely to be more,” he adds.“And based on information we have, there are likely to be more,” he adds.
Sarah Stewart-Black, the director of Civil Defence Emergency Management, is speaking now.Sarah Stewart-Black, the director of Civil Defence Emergency Management, is speaking now.
“We do not expect this event you have any significant impact for the people on the north island at this time. If the situation changes we will communicate this.“We do not expect this event you have any significant impact for the people on the north island at this time. If the situation changes we will communicate this.
“Ashfall appears to be confined to the island and they do not expect more than a minor amount of ash to reach East Cape in the coming hours.”“Ashfall appears to be confined to the island and they do not expect more than a minor amount of ash to reach East Cape in the coming hours.”
Ardern will travel to the island tonight.
“It continues to be an evolving situation. We know there were a number of tourists on or around the island at the time.
“The Ministry of foreign affairs have also stood up their systems to assist with any response required for those further afield.”
Jacinda Ardern is speaking now.
Tourist Allessandro Kauffmann, who posted one of the first videos of the eruption, says he saw people with “serious burns”.
In a tearful Instagram video, Kauffman said he saw people with “extensive burns on their bodies.”
“There were two tours on the volcano,” he said, as translated from Portuguese by the NZ Herald.
“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.
“Some people have serious burns. We had to stay to help those people who were on the island. The boat from this other tour was covered in ash from the volcano. Very tense talking about this. We just have to hope that all is as well as can be.”
According to Te Ara, the enycyclopedia of New Zealand, Whakaari lies at the northern end of the North Island’s ‘line of fire’ – a large volcanic plateau which stretches from the Bay of Plenty on the coast, to Mt Ruapehu inland. The line of fire forms part of the wider ‘Ring of Fire’ around the Pacific ocean.
From the Encyclopedia of New Zealand: “Unpredictable and fascinating, the Volcanic Plateau is New Zealand’s main area of volcanic activity. In this zone, the Pacific tectonic plate is sinking beneath the Australian Plate. At a certain depth its rocks heat and produce volcanic activity, which erupts at the surface in minor ways (steam vents, mud pools and hot springs), and major ways (volcanic eruptions, collapsing mountains and lake formation).”
TVNZ report that one of the rescue helicopters is now tasked “just with taking blood from Auckland Hospital to Whakātane hospital”.
There will be a police and emergency press conference in half an hour.
Some more footage from a tourist on a boat near White Island today
Professor Shane Cronin, a volcanologist at the University of Auckland, says that the kind of eruption we saw today can commonly occur with no warning.
“Sudden, unheralded eruptions from volcanoes such as White Island can be expected at any time,” he said. “Magma is close to the surface, and the heat and gases from this heat the surface and ground waters to form vigorous hydrothermal systems. We know hydrothermal and so-called ‘phreatic’ eruptions can occur suddenly and with little or no warning because they are driven by the expansion of super-heated water into steam.
“The hazards expected from such events are the violent ejection of hot blocks and ash, and formation of ‘hurricane-like’ currents of wet ash and coarse particles that radiate from the explosion vent.
“These can be deadly in terms of causing impact trauma, burns and respiratory problems. The eruptions are short-lived, but once one occurs, there are high chances for further, generally smaller ones as the system re-equilibrates.”
Video purporting to be from today’s eruption has been uploaded to Instagram by a tourist on a cruise boat.
It was originally posted to Instagram, 50 minutes ago, and has now been shared by a variety of other accounts.
The Guardian has not yet independently verified the video.
Images from Whakatāne, where ambulances are taking injured people to hospital.