Whakaari/White Island eruption: Tourists visited volcano days before disaster

Tuesday, 10 December 2019

Two tourists who visited Whakaari/White Island just days before it erupted say the mountain was rumbling more than usual and sulphur was fuming a lot.

Tim Dallatomasina and Gerard Sanz have been travelling around for New Zealand for 40 days and last Saturday, went on a guided tour.

Their tour guide, Hayden Marshall-Inman, is one of five confirmed deaths after the volcano erupted on Monday afternoon.

Speaking to Stuff, when the pair heard about what had happened and that people had died, including their tour guide, they were shocked.

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Tim Dallatomasina and Gerard Sanz visited Whaakari/White Island just a few days before the volcano erupted.

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

The pair, who were taken around by Hayden Marshall-Inman and a trainee tour guide, described him as passionate and supportive.

The tourists, from Switzerland, started on their tour in the morning with a group of 40 others.

The day before they received an email advising them the boat ride to the island could make people seasick.

When the pair visited the volcano on Saturday, the sulphur was steaming more than usual and the mountain was rumbling louder than usual too.

When they arrived, the group was split into two groups of 20 and there were two guides to each group.

White Island Flights operations manager George Walker captured these images of White Island about two hours after the volcanic eruption on Monday.

Sanz said the group were first shown sulphur before heading to the caldera and down to see a stream.

Near the airport landing area, the group were shown a protection area which was about a 10-minutes walk from the caldera.

'The sulphur was fuming a lot, it was fuming more than usual, and there was a lot of steam at the caldera - we couldn't see anything, we just heard it roaring,' he said.

The guides told them the caldera was very active and they were lucky because they could see more than what visitors usually saw.

They also pointed out how the mountain was rumbling more than usual - as if it was roaring.

The pair had read about the island and the eruption in 1914 which killed about 10 miners. survivor.

'We were aware of the risk and the tour company made it clear that it was our own decision and it was risky to go there,' Sanz said.

Their group was shown around by a trainee guide and Marshall-Inman, who they described as supportive and passionate.

His partner, Dallatomasina said they had been travelling in New Zealand for two months.

'That could have been us if we skipped one day for the other.

'We weren't worried - we felt safe and we knew it was an active volcano and that something could have happened.'