Whakaari/White Island: 111,000-strong petition calling for charges to be dropped 'humbling' but focus should be on families, pilot says
Wednesday, 9 December 2020
A helicopter pilot involved in the Whakaari/White Island rescue operation is humbled by a petition calling for the charges against him to be dropped. But he wants victims’ families to be the focus.
“It is humbling that people in the industry want to support us,” Volcanic Air Helicopters and Floatplanes director and chief pilot Tim Barrow said in a statement. “But the focus should be on the families.”
Barrow, along with Kahu NZ chief executive Mark Law, saved multiple lives after the volcano erupted one year ago.
The pilots are among the 13 organisations and individuals facing charges from WorkSafe.
**READ MORE:
* Loss of child inspires woman to pay tribute to mothers of all Whakaari/White Island victims
* Live: Whakaari/White Island eruption commemorated, a year on
* Whakaari / White Island eruption victims remembered one year on
**
The charges are in relation to the period leading up to the eruption, not the rescue and recovery operations that followed it. Post-eruption actions may be subject to other proceedings such as a coronial inquest.
On the first anniversary of the eruption, a Change.org petition calling for the charges against the pilots to be dropped has been signed by more than 111,000 people. The petition is also asking Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to recognise the extraordinary efforts of Law and Barrow.
Since Saturday,, the petition has grown by about 42,000 signatures.
Barrow noted that they had co-operated fully and openly with the WorkSafe investigation.
WorkSafe chief executive Phil Parkes said last week an investigation into the parties found they did not meet their obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 when taking tourists to the island.
“As a nation we need to look at this tragedy and ask if we are truly doing enough to ensure our mothers, fathers, children and friends come home to us healthy and safe at the end of each day.
“It is now up to the judicial system to determine whether they did or not.”
The volcano erupted on December 9, 2019, at 2.11pm. Forty-seven people were on the island at the time, 22 of them died. Almost all the survivors suffered severe or critical injuries.
A public event to remember the eruption and its victims is being held in Whakatāne. A minute of silence will be observed at the time it erupted.