Military retrieves bodies after volcano eruption in New Zealand

[Boats]

Military retrieves bodies after volcano eruption in New Zealand
By: Associated Press & PBS - 12-12-19
RE: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/m...in-new-zealand

WHAKATANE, New Zealand — A team of eight New Zealand military specialists will land on a small volcanic island early Friday to attempt to retrieve the bodies of eight victims of an eruption that claimed eight other lives.

New Zealand police said late Thursday the recovery attempt will go ahead even though scientists believe another eruption is possible on White Island. Steam and mud are being emitted from its active vents and volcanic tremors are rising, volcanologists said.

Police, military, volcano experts and others will monitor the recovery attempt from the HMNZS Wellington, which will be stationed nearby, authorities said.

Police Deputy Commissioner Mike Clement told reporters the recovery operation is “not without risk.”

“They will go onto the island and they will make every effort to recover all of the bodies,” Clement said at a news conference.

The continuing volcanic activity has delayed the recovery of the last victims since Monday’s deadly eruption, which occurred as 47 tourists and their guides were exploring the island. In addition to the bodies left on the island, eight other people were killed and dozens were severely burned by the blast of scalding steam and ash.

Police have cited the need to preserve evidence that would help identify the victims as a reason to take a methodical approach, but the decision to make a faster recovery attempt appeared to have been partly motivated by weather forecasts.

Rain mixing with the heavy volcanic ash lying on the island could encase the bodies in a cement-like substance, making recovery more difficult.

“My concerns remain the weather, the direction of the wind, the sea state because they all bring risk and add complexity,” Clement said.

New Zealand medical staff were working around the clock to treat the injured survivors in hospital burn units.
The enormity of the task was clear when Dr. Peter Watson, a chief medical officer, said at a news conference that extra skin has been ordered from American skin banks. Hospital personnel anticipated needing an extra 120 square meters (1,300 square feet) of skin for grafting onto the patients, Watson said.

Australian tissue banks have sent 2 square meters (21 square feet) to New Zealand to help the survivors. “Skin is predominantly used in patients who have the most life-threatening burns, usually if they have more than 50% burn over their body,” said Stefan Poniatowski, head of Donor Tissue Bank Victoria.

A patient with that amount of burned skin doesn’t have enough of their own healthy skin to transplant onto the wounded area, he explained. Additionally, in patients with an infection, creating a new wound to transfer their own skin is too risky, Poniatowski said.

Authorities say 24 Australians, nine Americans, five New Zealanders, four Germans, two Britons, two Chinese and a Malaysian were visiting the island at the time of the eruption. Many were from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship that had left Sydney two days earlier.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said 10 Australians were presumed among the dead. Twelve of the injured Australians were being medically evacuated to Australian hospitals for further treatment with one Australian patient staying in a New Zealand hospital, he said at a news conference Thursday.

Volcanologist Nico Fournier warned earlier that White Island remained “highly volatile.” The GeoNet seismic monitoring agency has maintained the island’s volcanic alert level at 2, noting there’s been no eruption since Monday. On the scale, 2 signifies unrest while 5 signifies a major eruption.

White Island is the tip of a mostly undersea volcano that’s about 50 kilometers (30 miles) off New Zealand’s North Island and has been visited by thousands of tourists each year.

[Boats]

Earlier Report: 5 dead, dozens missing in New Zealand volcano eruption
RE: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/5...lcano-eruption

Photo link: https://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.ne...O-1200x815.jpg

TAURANGA, New Zealand (AP) — A volcano off the New Zealand coast erupted Monday with a towering blast of ash and scalding steam as dozens of tourists were exploring its moon-like surface, killing five people and leaving eight others missing and feared dead, authorities said.

Helicopter crews landed on White Island despite the danger and helped evacuate the dozens of survivors, some of them critically injured.

Hours after the disaster, authorities said the site was still too dangerous for rescuers to search for the missing. But aircraft flew over the island repeatedly, and “no signs of life have been seen at any point,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.

The missing and injured included New Zealanders and tourists from Australia, the U.S., China, Britain and Malaysia, the prime minister said. Some of those who were exploring White Island volcano were passengers from the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Ovation of the Seas, docked on neighboring North Island.

“My god,” Michael Schade tweeted as he posted video of the eruption. “My family and I had gotten off it 20 minutes before, were waiting at our boat about to leave when we saw it. Boat ride home tending to people our boat rescued was indescribable.”

His video showed a wall of ash and steam around White Island and a helicopter heavily damaged and covered in ash. He said one woman was badly injured but seemed “strong” by the end.

The terrifying disaster immediately raised questions of why people were allowed to visit the island some 30 miles (50 kilometers) off mainland New Zealand after scientists had noted an uptick in volcanic activity in recent weeks. White Island is the tip of an undersea volcano.

Authorities said 47 people were on the island at the time. Some were walking along the rim of the crater just before the eruption. In addition to the dead and missing, 31 survivors were hospitalized and three others were released, officials said. Some of the victims were reported severely burned.

The eruption took place about 2 p.m. and consisted of two explosions in quick succession, the prime minister said. It sent a plume of steam and ash an estimated 12,000 feet (3,660 meters) into the air. One of the boats that returned from the island was covered with ash half a meter (yard) thick, Ardern said.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said 13 Australians were hospitalized and 11 others were believed to be among the missing or dead.

“Ï fear there is worse news to come over the course of perhaps today or over the next few days,” he said. “This is a terrible tragedy, a time of great innocence and joy interrupted by the horror of that eruption.”

The GeoNet agency, which monitors volcanoes and earthquakes in New Zealand, had raised the alert level on White Island on Nov. 18 from 1 to 2 on a scale where 5 represents a major eruption, noting an increase in sulfur dioxide gas, which originates from magma deep in the volcano. It also said that volcanic tremors had increased from weak to moderate strength.

Ardern said White Island is a “very unpredictable volcano,” and questions about whether tourists should be visiting will have to be addressed, “but for now, we’re focused on those who are caught up in this horrific event.”

Brad Scott, a volcanologist with research group GNS Science, said the alert level on White Island is often raised and then dropped without any eruption. He said there hadn’t been any major problems with tourists visiting the island in the past, though there had been some close calls.

He would not venture an opinion on whether it was safe enough for tourists immediately before Monday’s eruption.

After the disaster, GeoNet raised its alert level to 4, later dropping it to 3.

“In the scheme of things, for volcanic eruptions, it is not large,” said Ken Gledhill from GeoNet. “But if you were close to that, it is not good.”

White Island is New Zealand’s most active cone volcano. About 70% of the volcano lies under the sea.

Twelve people were killed on the island in 1914 when it was being mined for sulfur. Part of a crater wall collapsed and a landslide destroyed the miners’ village and the mine itself.

The remains of buildings from another mining enterprise in the 1920s are now a tourist attraction. The island became a private scenic reserve in 1953, and daily tours allow more than 10,000 people to visit every year.

The island is also known by the indigenous Maori name Whakaari.