On 9 December 2019, Whakaari / White Island, an active stratovolcano island in New Zealand's northeastern Bay of Plenty region, explosively erupted. The island was a popular tourist destination, known for its volcanic activity, and 47 people were on the island at the time. Twenty-two people died, either in the explosion or from injuries sustained, including two whose bodies were never found, later declared dead. The remaining 25 people suffered injuries, with the majority needing intensive care for severe burns. Continuing seismic and volcanic activity, together with heavy rainfall, low visibility and the presence of toxic gases, hampered recovery efforts over the week following the incident.

Experts identified the event as a phreatic eruption: a release of steam and volcanic gases that caused an explosion, launching rock and ash into the air.

Following the eruption, investigations resulted in WorkSafe New Zealand charging the owners of the island and multiple tour operators as well as government and scientific agencies under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 for failing to ensure the health and safety of workers and others. , the charges against two government agencies have been dismissed or dropped and five tour operators have pleaded guilty to health and safety charges. The trial of six remaining defendants (three individual owners of the island and three tour operating companies) commenced on 11 July 2023. In early September 2023, Judge Evangelos Thomas dismissed the individual charges against the island's owners Peter, Andrew, and James Buttle but upheld the charges against their company Whakaari Management Limited (WML). On 12 September, Thomas dismissed the charges against co-defendants Tauranga Tourism Services (TTSL) and ID Tours, reducing the number of defendants to one. On 31 October, WML was convicted of one health and safety charge relating to the eruption.

On 1 March 2024, Judge Thomas imposed a total of NZ$10.21 million in reparations and NZ$2 million in fines on the six defendants Whakaari Management Limited, White Island Tours, Volcanic Air Safaris, Kahu Limited, Aerius, and GNS Science. On 28 February 2025, Justice Simon Moore overturned Whakaari Management Limited's conviction.

Background

Whakaari / White Island is an active andesite stratovolcano, situated off the north-northeast coast of the North Island of New Zealand in the Bay of Plenty. The volcano has erupted many times in recent history, including several times in the 1980s. A major eruption formed a new crater in 2000, and small eruptions occurred in 2012, 2013, and 2016.

The volcano had been showing signs of unrest for several weeks before the 2019 eruption. In October 2019, volcanic tremors and sulphur dioxide gas were at their highest levels since 2016, indicating that an eruption was more likely to occur, and on 18 November, the volcano was rated at Volcanic Alert Level 2, indicating "moderate to heightened volcanic unrest", due to increased activity.

On 24 November, two weeks before the eruption, a moment magnitude () 5.9 earthquake lasting approximately one minute with an epicentre located northeast of White Island occurred, and was felt by people throughout New Zealand as far south as Christchurch. Seismic activity can be a contributing factor to hydrothermic eruptions, due to a reduction of pressure within the geothermal system.

The island is monitored by GNS Science with three web cameras, one seismograph, and a microphone to detect volcanic explosions. The organisation also makes regular visits to test water, gas and soil, and to survey surface deformation.

Tourists regularly visited the island, primarily through White Island Tours. The organisation posted a statement on their web page before the eruption, which stated:

Eruption

The volcano erupted on 9 December 2019 at 2:11 pm local time (01:11 UTC). The ash plume rose into the air.

It was initially believed that there were about 100 tourists on or near the island when the eruption took place; later, this figure was revised to 47 people who were on the island at the time. Of these people, 38 were passengers on a shore excursion from the cruise ship Ovation of the Seas, which was on a 12-day voyage around New Zealand and had berthed at the Port of Tauranga that morning.

Some visitors were waiting for vessels to take them off the island at the time of the eruption. Tour operators and these vessels rescued 23 people from the island before it was officially declared unsafe. A passenger on one of the boats stated that his vessel attempted to first outrun the ash cloud before many on the vessel noticed a crowd of people in need of help on the jetty. Those who were brought onto the boat were aided by the original passengers who used water bottles, jackets and other clothing, inhalers, and eye drops.

Another passenger told reporters that the boat he was on, which was about offshore at the time of the eruption, launched an emergency inflatable and retrieved 23 people before returning to the mainland. Paramedics from the New Zealand Coastguard boarded the boat before it reached the docks to tend the injured.

Noticing the eruption from the mainland shore, three commercial helicopter pilots conducted rescue missions to the island in their helicopters, bringing back twelve survivors. They also saw several bodies in the area, but concentrated on bringing back the survivors. The pilots reportedly attempted to return to the island to collect the bodies they had seen but were stopped by police; however, they were consulted later in order to collect the bodies once the area became more stable.

Casualties + Victims by citizenship Citizenship DeathsInjuries Australia1410 United States54 New Zealand23 Germany13 United Kingdom2 China2 Malaysia1Total2225 + List of victims (fatalities) Name Age Citizenship Date of DeathRichard Aaron Elzer32Australia9 December 2019Barbara Jean Hollander49United States9 December 2019Berend Lawrence Hollander16United States9 December 2019Matthew Robert Hollander13United States9 December 2019Martin Berend Hollander48Australia9 December 2019Julie Richards47Australia9 December 2019Jessica Richards20Australia9 December 2019Krystal Eve Browitt21Australia9 December 2019Tipene Maangi24New Zealand9 December 2019Zoe Ella Hosking15Australia9 December 2019Gavin Brian Dallow53Australia9 December 2019Karla Michelle Mathews32Australia9 December 2019Jason David Griffiths33Australia9 December 2019Kristine Elizabeth Langford45Australia9 December 2019Anthony James Langford51Australia9 December 2019Winona Jane Langford17Australia9 December 2019Hayden Bryan Marshall-Inman40New Zealand9 December 2019Christopher Cozad43Australia14 December 2019Mayuri "Mary" Singh42United States22 December 2019Paul Anthony Browitt55Australia12 January 2020Pratap "Paul" Singh49United States28 January 2020Horst Westenfelder64Germany2 July 2020 The 47 people on the island at the time of the eruption consisted of 24 Australians, nine Americans, five New Zealanders, four Germans, two Chinese, two Britons, and one Malaysian. A passenger aboard a rescue boat reported that many individuals among the injured suffered from severe burns, as they had only been wearing T-shirts and shorts earlier in the day.

At 18:35 on 9 December, media were told there was one confirmed fatality, with more likely to be dead as several were missing, while many were injured, seven critically. Authorities said it was still too dangerous for the emergency services to get onto the island to rescue people as it was covered in ash and volcanic material. Later the same day, officials declared that 47 people were on the island at the moment of the eruption: five were killed, 34 injured and rescued, while eight were missing and presumed dead.

Three people died in hospital over the next days, bringing the confirmed death toll to eight. Six more bodies were found during an operation on the island, bringing the death toll to 14. On 14 December, it was announced that the death toll had risen to 15 as another injured person died in hospital. A day later, an Australian citizen who had been repatriated died in hospital, bringing the death toll to 16. Another victim died from injuries in hospital and two victims whose bodies had not been recovered were declared "presumed dead", taking the death toll to 19. A further victim died at a hospital in Australia on 12 January 2020 taking the total to 20. Authorities were still working to recover two more bodies, but efforts were scaled down from 15 January.

Fatalities Over the days following the initial eruption, the death toll steadily rose as bodies were recovered from the island and as several of the severely burnt victims succumbed to their injuries. On 15 December, it was announced that the death toll had risen to 16. Including two people who were missing and later considered fatalities, there were 13 Australian tourists, three Americans and two New Zealand men who worked as guides for White Island Tours. Another victim, an American woman, succumbed to her injuries on 22 December, raising the confirmed death toll to 19 and the number of the American fatalities to four. In January 2020, an Australian man and an American man died of their injuries and the two missing people were officially declared as dead, bringing the death toll to 21. A German man died on 2 July 2020, bringing the death toll to 22.

Due to the severe injuries sustained by those on the island, identification of the deceased was carried out by a variety of individuals including a pathologist, a forensic dentist, and a fingerprint officer. This was aided by officers creating profiles of the victims, including descriptions of appearance, clothing, photos, fingerprints, medical and dental records, and DNA samples. The information was then matched to evidence gathered from the deceased individual in the postmortem.

Injuries All but three of the survivors suffered severe or critical injuries and the vast majority were badly burned. They were initially taken to Whakatāne Hospital, where they were triaged and stabilised before being transferred to other hospitals. Whakatāne Hospital, Tauranga Hospital, and Waikato Hospital in Hamilton all activated their mass casualty plans. On 10 December, the Ministry of Health announced that twenty-five people had been transferred to the country's four burns units in Auckland (Middlemore), Hamilton, Lower Hutt, and Christchurch, all of which were at capacity. On 11 December, it was reported that New Zealand had ordered 1.2 million cm2 (186,000 sq in) of skin from the United States and Australia to treat patients following the eruption, some of whom had burns on up to 95% of their bodies. Three survivors suffered slight injuries.

Thirteen injured Australians were airlifted to Australia from the night of 11 December to receive treatment in hospitals in Sydney and Melbourne. Three Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) planes, a C-130J Super Hercules and two C-17 Globemasters, flew to Christchurch with specialist aircrew and medical equipment on board. Several Australian state governments also supplied aircraft to assist in the airlift.

Missing after eruption Initially, rescuers focused their efforts on people who were still alive and left the deceased on the island. Consequently, many people were listed as missing until their bodies were recovered and formally identified. On 15 December, authorities said the bodies of two victims had not been found and may have been swept into the sea. Police believe their bodies were initially near a stream, and were swept down the stream during a "significant weather event" on the night of 9 December.Sydney teen faces finding out his entire immediate family has died when he wakes from coma , news.com.au, 19 December 2019 On 23 January 2020, the coroner declared the missing two to be dead.

Aftermath