Whakaari/White Island eruption: Family of four among group of tourists still missing

Tuesday, 10 December 2019

A family of four Australians are still missing following Monday afternoon's eruption on Whakaari/White Island.

Cruise ship passengers Anthony Langford, 51, and Kristine Langford, their son, Jesse, 19, and daughter Winona, 17, from Sydney, were believed to have been on the island at the time of the eruption and had been marked as missing on the Family Links website.

Australians Anthony and Kristine Langford and their teenage kids are unaccounted for after the eruption.

In an Instagram post just five days ago, Kristine Langford shared a photo of her family as they embarked on the Royal Carribean Cruise in celebration of Anthony's birthday.

'My first post in a while. We're off cruising on #royalcarribeancruise Happy birthday [Anthony Langford],' she wrote. 'Bon voyage everyone!'

Nineteen-year-old Australian, Jesse Langford, originally feared dead has reportedly been found in hospital.

**READ MORE:

Newlyweds Lauren and Matt Urey were on White Island when it erupted.

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Family initially confirmed Jason Griffiths was among the injured. Friends said he later died in hospital.

* Police won't launch overnight searches on 'unstable' White Island due to risk of further eruption

* Police say no survivors are left on White Island after eruption in the Bay of Plenty

Plumes of steam and smoke erupt from White Island.

* White Island eruption: GeoNet takes down cameras while search and rescue operation under way

* How dangerous is White Island? New Zealand's most active volcano**

The New Zealand Red Cross Family Links website listed names of people still unaccounted for. The site was activated to allow those in the area to register themselves as safe and for others to register a missing person.

Among the list were a couple from Singapore who were travelling around New Zealand on their honeymoon, and 14-year-old girl from Australia. A 7-year-old Australian boy originally feared missing was located safe with his family in the Bay of Plenty.

15-year-old Australian Zoe, Gavin Dallow, 53, his wife and mother of Zoe, Lisa Dallow, 48, from Adelaide were on holiday in the Bay of Plenty during the eruption on Monday.

Newlyweds Lauren and Matt Urey from the United States were also on the island when it erupted. They were originally listed as missing on the website, but were taken to hospital with burns.

Their conditions were unknown.

Jason Griffiths, 33, from Coffs Harbour in New South Wales, Australia, was injured on the island. His family confirmed he was in hospital but in a very bad way.

The list of those missing included travellers from Australia, Portugal, France, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Canada, America, Holland and China, aged between 7 and 80.

There were 96 people registered on the website at the time of publication.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed at press conference on Tuesday some of those still missing were from New Zealand, Australia, the United States, United Kingdom, China and Malaysia.

The website was crashing regularly, an indication of the high volume of traffic it was receiving.

Red Cross spokesperson Angela Sutherland told TVNZ's Breakfast the site had received several hundred visitors overnight.

Red Cross was working with the New Zealand Police to ensure 'people get access to information as soon as possible', Sutherland said.

She encouraged those who had listed someone as missing but who had since contacted them, to update the listing on the website to ensure information was accurate.