Whakatāne man dead after White Island eruption

Monday, 9 December 2019

A Whakatāne man is among those killed in an eruption at White Island, the town's former mayor has told Stuff.

It is understood the man, one of five confirmed deaths, is Hayden Marshall-Inman.

'The young man that lost his life, I know him personally,' Tony Bonne said. 'It's very sad that he's lost his life.

'I know the family, It's been confirmed.'

White Island as seen from the air during and eruption which occurred as a tour party was visiting the volcanic island.

* White Island: Would you dare walk New Zealand's most-active volcano?

* White Island: A stark, dangerous and wondrous place**

Police say advice from GeoNet suggests the island is too unsafe to go on to as it could erupt again.

A double-digit number of people remain on Whakaari/White island, but emergency services can't safely reach them. However, police say they do not believe there are any further survivors.

Bonne operated a dive tour company for about 15 years while he was mayor.

'White Island has been special to me because while I was mayor, for 15 years, I operated dive trips to White Island. I was a tour operator.

'We didn't go on the island but we dived around it.

'I can't remember when the last unrest was but it must have been about six or seven years ago.'

The former mayor-turned-real estate agent said they would give tourists a special briefing if there was any activity on the island.

'We knew if there was unrest that we had to have emergency procedures in place in case something happened but it never did.

'And today, I think it's just one of those things. Just like with a car accident - at the wrong place, wrong time.

'And the island's decided to blow when there's tourists on the island.'

Bonne said he was at work when he heard of the eruption on the radio.

'I went into emergency mode because I [was mayor] for so long and after about 30 seconds I thought 'hey, I don't have to go into emergency mode. I'm not the mayor anymore'.

'But It's been a total shock. We have a very good view from our home of White Island and the steam seems to have dropped right back.

'If I still had my boat I would have been out there trying to get people off [the island] because we have been through this before.

'But this is the first time I presume since the 1900s when we had the fatalities of the miners.'

Bonne also hopes 'Wellington' does not dictate what happens in terms of protocol from here.

'I'm hoping the fatalities are a lot lower, they need to get people there to sort it out.

'Don't let the people from Wellington dictate what can happen.

'That's my frustration to be honest.

'People in charge of the control centre should be the people that know White Island.'

At a 9pm briefing on Monday, Police National Operation Commander Deputy Commissioner John Tims said he couldn't confirm how many people remained on the island, but agreed it was in double digits.

Twenty-three people are off the island. Five are dead and the remaining 18 all had injuries to some degree.

Two of them are in Auckland's Middlemore Hospital and another five in Waikato Hospital.