New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spoke of a "devastating catastrophe": At the eruption of the volcano on the island of White Island, at least five people died on Monday. Eight people are still missing on the island. But there is little hope to find survivors there.
According to the latest information from the police, 47 people remained on or near the island during the outbreak. 31 of them suffered injuries, mostly severe burns. According to the authorities, several of those affected are in a "critical state". The police announced on Tuesday to investigate the case.
According to Ardern, the dead and injured come from New Zealand, Australia, the USA, China, Malaysia and Germany. Most of them were on a cruise ship, the Ovation of the Seas. The trip to the volcanic island was part of a day trip. The Foreign Ministry said: "We have to assume that Germans are among the injured." There are no indications of German fatalities.
Amateur video shows rescue after volcanic eruption
REUTERS
Concerned about further eruptions, the rescue teams stayed away the day after the White Island outbreak. The geological monitoring center Geonet put the probability of another outbreak at 50 percent.
The volcano of White Island is New Zealand's most active. The previous major outbreak was 2016. Nobody was injured then. In the past few weeks he was again increasingly active. Despite the dangers, the island is visited by about 10,000 people every year by boat. There is now a debate as to whether the disaster could have been prevented. Ardern said: "We know that there will be bigger questions, these questions need to be asked and answered."
The island is privately owned. The tour operator White Island Tours' executive director Paul Quinn told Radio New Zealand radio station that there had been no warning that the island would no longer be there. The police now want to clarify when White Island can be entered again.
New Zealand has been shaken by an earthquake on its east coast on Tuesday. The quake of magnitude 5.3 hit the north island of the Pacific state at around 1pm local time. About greater property damage or injured is not known.
