White Island tourist captures dramatic footage of volcano eruption

Monday, 9 December 2019

Footage of the White Island eruption filmed by a tourist who was leaving just as disaster struck.

A man who left White Island just before the volcano exploded has captured incredible footage of billowing smoke and wreckage in the eruption's wake.

At least one person is critically injured and others are missing after the explosion about 2pm on Monday.

Michael Schade, from San Francisco, posted video on Twitter showing huge billowing plumes of smoke metres high, while he was on a boat leaving the island.

'My family and I had gotten off [the island] 20 minutes before, were waiting at our boat about to leave when we saw it,' he posted on Twitter.

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'[The] boat ride home tending to people our boat rescued was indescribable.'

One of his videos shows what appears to be a destroyed helicopter among a charred, white ground covered with ash.

Another shows a group of people stranded on the edge of the island, waiting to be rescued.

He said his mother tended to a woman in a critical condition, but the woman 'seemed strong' by the end.

Schade was at the main crater's edge just 30 minutes before the eruption happened, standing over the edge in a video, looking down into the depths of the volcano.

'My thoughts with the families of those currently unaccounted for, the people recovering now, and especially the rescue workers,' he said.

The volcanic plume is seen spewing from the volcano in the moments after the eruption.

'Praying for them and their recovery.'

Emergency services are continuing attempts to find people after the explosion.

White Island is popular with tourists and is used for scientific research.