Whakaari/White Island: Watch tourist's full video of tour moments before eruption

Thursday, 12 December 2019

A tourist takes a selfie near the Whakaari/White Island crater lake.

New video shows a couple taking Whakaari/White Island selfies in gas masks minutes before the crater exploded.

Allessandro Kauffmann was safely on the boat by then, still filming, in shock.

Allessandro Kauffman filmed his tour of Whakaari/White Island - one of the last before Monday's eruption.

The 12-minute clip published on Thursday morning starts like so many tourism experiences - mingling with strangers waiting to embark on a paid-for adventure.

Everyone boards. They motor out into the Bay of Plenty.

Tourist Allessandro Kauffmann was on a boat leaving Whakaari/White Island when it erupted, and captured this on video.

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Allessandro Kauffmann was leaving the island with White Island Tours when Monday's eruption occurred. White Island tour boats have been cordoned off pending a work safe investigation.

Soon they're stepping through toxic fumaroles in orange helmets. A guide warns temperatures could range from around 100 degrees to well over 300.

There's a photo opportunity up there, he says, but he urges them to stay away from a patch of bubbling water.

Another tourist, Lillani Hopkins, took this photo of the eruption as she travelled back on a tour boat.

'You may need to use your mask up there, okay? If you do get engulfed by the steam, basically turn your back to it and, if you need to, you can just crouch down.'

The video then cuts to Kauffmann, in helmet and gas mask.

The group members then remove their masks for the walk to the crater, the climax of the tour, where a voice in the video seems to say 'we've had a change in colour overnight there'.

Colour is also a concern when it comes to a rivulet of water on the volcano, which Kauffmann's video shows.

'I'm a little bit worried about why it's going green,' says a voice, understood to be the guide.

The next footage is of the former mining factory and the group heading back to the boat.

Cut to panic as the eruption begins.

'Oh my god. Go, go, go go. Please,' says one passenger.

'We've got to get out of here,' someone yells.

'That's terrifying,' says another. 'You can't tell your mum this happened.'

'Are we going to be okay?' asks a passenger, after they have been ushered inside, and ash obscures the view of White Island.

'I don't know,' replies another.' Come on, let's get off here. Jesus.'

'Jesus christ, holy f…' says one passenger, as they and the crew try to take stock of the situation.

There's a call saying people are in the water, someone's calling out for an inhaler.

Ash-covered tourists can be seen on the boat ramp, and the boat is radioing Whakatāne Coastguard to confirm what has happened.

And there are shocked reactions as those on board spot a helicopter from another tour - destroyed in the eruption.