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| A military plane and helicopter are seen at the airport in Whakatane, New Zealand |
Police in New Zealand are planning a mission to volcanic White Island on Friday to retrieve bodies of people killed in this weekโs eruption, while the known death toll from the disaster climbed to eight, with two people dying in hospital.
Eight more people are missing and presumed dead, buried under ash and debris from Mondayโs eruption. More than 20 people are in hospital, many with severe burns, while seven others have been transferred to burns units in Australia.
โI can now confirm that we are finalising a plan to recover the bodies from Whakaari/ White Island tomorrow morning,โ police Deputy Commissioner John Tims said in a statement on Thursday, adding families will be briefed on the operation.
Another police officer, Deputy Commissioner Mike Clement, later told a news conference the mission was risky and that a team would deploy at first light on Friday.
Six bodies could be seen and there would be โvery limitedโ opportunity to search for the other two, he said.
โA lot has to go right for this to work,โ Clement said.
The volcano on White Island was โhighly volatileโ and could erupt again within days, said authorities.
There are no signs of life on the uninhabited island.
โWe are now living with a growing sense of desperation to bring home those that we know are there and those we love,โ said Judy Turner, the mayor of Whakatane, the nearest town on the mainland. โThe frustration of those families most affected is completely understandable. No news is not good news for people in this situation.โ
The volcano, a popular tourist destination for day-trips, erupted on Monday, spewing ash and steam over the island.
There were 47 people on the island, also known by its Maori name Whakaari, at the time of the eruption. Twenty-four of those were from Australia, nine from the United States, five from New Zealand, four from Germany, two each from China and Britain and one from Malaysia.
Graham Leonard, a senior scientist at New Zealandโs geological science agency GNS Science, said monitoring equipment still active on the island put the risk of a further eruption over the next 24 hours at 50% to 60%, up from 40% to 60% on Wednesday.
โToday is less safe than yesterday and the day before,โ he said.
In the event of another eruption, anybody on the island could be โpummelled to deathโ by flying rocks or overcome by ash and gases in temperatures exceeding hundreds of degrees Celsius, said GNS Science volcanologist Nico Fournier.
Clement said earlier the risk of both another eruption and toxic gases were simply too great on Thursday to expose recovery teams, although the situation was being constantly reviewed.
BURN INJURIES
Many of the injured are being treated for severe burns, and medical officials are importing some 1.2 million square cm (186,000 square inches) of skin. The amount of skin needed equates to about 60 donors. In New Zealand, only five to 10 people donate skin each year, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Teams of surgeons in several burns units around the country were working around the clock.
โWhat we faced on Monday was beyond comprehension,โ Dr Heike Hundemer, clinical leader at Whakatane hospital, said at a media conference on Wednesday.
โIโve worked in major centres in Germany as well as in New Zealand. Iโve never seen this number of critically injured patients coming into an emergency department in a short space of time,โ said Hundemer.
โWe used every single bedspace, every single resource we had to care for those people. Those patients we treated and comforted will forever stay in our minds.โ
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said 12 Australians would be taken back home for treatment. One citizen would remain in a New Zealand hospital.
Morrison said 11 Australians had died, a figure that is believed to be drawn from the 16 people officially listed dead and missing by New Zealand. Further, he said two permanent residents of Australia had died, one was missing and a fourth was hospitalised.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said there will be an inquiry into the tragedy, which will also look more broadly at issues including access to volcanic sites across New Zealand.
Daily tours bring more than 10,000 visitors to privately owned White Island every year, marketed as โthe worldโs most accessible active marine volcanoโ.
Royal Caribbean cruise lines has said that passengers from its ship โOvation of the Seasโ were on the island at the time. It said it grieved โthis tragic lossโ and would continue to offer support and services to affected families.
The โOvation of the Seasโ docked in Wellington on Thursday.
REUTERS
