Tragedy on Whakaari

This week 16 people lost their lives while visiting Whakaari. White Island, as it's also known, is an active marine volcano off the coast of New Zealand's North Island. On Monday afternoon, a sudden, and violent, eruption occurred while 47 tourists and their guides were exploring the island. As seen in the image above (by Lillani Hopkins), it produced an ash plume more than 3600 metres high.

Authorities say 24 Australians, nine Americans, five New Zealanders, four Germans, two Britons, two Chinese and a Malaysian were on the island at the time. Many were from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship that had left Sydney two days earlier.  The vessel had subsequently docked at Mount Maunganui, my mother's home town, in early hours of Monday morning.

Within minutes of the eruption's end, a series of dramatic rescues by helicopter and boat saw the survivors transferred to shore.  Sadly, eight of those rescued subsequently died in hospital.  The bodies of another eight victims remained on the island for four additional days. Six were finally retrieved yesterday, leaving only two still unaccounted.  

Currently, 15 people remain in hospital, including 13 Australians. Some have thermal and chemical burns to more than 80% of their body. At least 11 remain in "very critical" condition. All of the injured Australians were repatriated to hospitals in Sydney and Melbourne via special Royal Air Force flights during the week. 

The disaster has shocked the nation.  For more than 30 years, tours have been visiting White Island without incident. To date, at least 300,000 people have visited the island including more than 17.000 last year alone. Garry and I can count ourselves among those who've safely made the journey there and back.

In December 2003, we joined my brothers and my sister-in-law for the 90-minute trip by boat from Whatakane to the island.  Upon arrival, we spent about an hour on shore before returning to the mainland. It was a fascinating and highly memorable experience. 

The tour began at an old sulphur works close to the shore; a permanent reminder that nature is firmly in charge. Mining began on the island in the 1840s. It was a harsh environment; workers under constant threat of eruptions, poisonous gasses and unstable land.

Disaster struck in 1914 when the crater wall collapsed and caused a mudflow that killed 11 miners – perhaps wiping away their living quarters in the middle of the night. Nobody knows exactly what happened as no trace of the men was ever found. The only survivor was the miners' cat.

From the sulphur works, it's a 500-metre walk to the crater, weaving through bubbling mud pits, hot water streams and roaring sulphur-rimmed vents. In hindsight, as you can see from the image below, we got uncomfortably close to at least one active fumarole. However, I recall the guides giving us very explicit safety instructions. They also didn't let us linger at the crater lake for more than a few brief minutes.

On the day of our tour, the surface of the crater lake was smothered by steam and several fumaroles were very active.  After looking at the photos we took that day, including the image above, I must admit that the lake appears to have been far more active during our visit than it was last Monday when disaster struck.  We can only hope and pray that the survivors of this week's tragedy will make a full recovery.

UPDATE: 15 December 
Sadly a young woman has died in hospital overnight. The eruption's death toll now stands at 17. Health officials grimly warn that, in the days ahead, others may yet succumb to their traumatic injuries.

UPDATE: 16 December 
Another person has died in an Australian hospital. The official death toll now stands at 16. However, this number doesn't include two people still missing and presumed dead. The Ovation of the Seas cruise ship also arrived back in Sydney today after completing a rather sombre and truncated itinerary. Many of those who died were passengers on the cruise that ended today.

UPDATE: 23 December 
The death toll has risen again with another death in hospital overnight. 19 people, including two still missing, have now died. Officials fear more may yet succumb to their injuries.

UPDATE: 13 January 2020
Another death in an Australian hospital last weekend has taken the death toll to 20.

UPDATE: 3 July 2020

The final death toll now stands at 22 people. A fourth American died on 29 January, and yesterday a German man finally succumbed to his injuries. This means that of the 47 people on the island at the time of the eruption almost half have died.