As many as 13 people may have died following a volcanic eruption on New Zealand's White Island, while dozens more were injured after two explosions that sent a plume of white smoke and ash burst thousands of yards into the air.
Five people are confirmed dead and eight are missing and presumed dead after the eruption Monday, police said early Tuesday. Another 31 people were being treated at seven hospitals and three were discharged. In total 47 people, many of them tourists, went on to the island, which is about 30 miles off the east coast of New Zealand's North Island.
"The missing or injured include New Zealanders as well as tourists from Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia, that is to the best of our knowledge," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at a news conference Tuesday. There have been a number of aerial reconnaissance flights over the island and "no signs of life have been seen at any point," she said.
Ardern paid tribute to first responders and helicopter pilots who flew to rescue survivors.
"As a result of their efforts a number of people were rescued from the island," she said. "However it is now clear there were two groups on the island _ those who were able to be evacuated and those who were close to the eruption.
Police were working with experts to determine when it will be safe to return to the island to recover the missing, Superintendent Bruce Bird told reporters. A navy ship was deployed to approach the perimeter of the island at first light to deploy drones and observational equipment to further assess the environment.
Many of the people visiting White Island are understood to be from the cruise ship Ovation of the Seas, which was berthed at the Port of Tauranga Monday, the New Zealand Herald reported. Port company chief executive Mark Cairns told the newspaper he understands the majority of those injured in the eruption are from the ship.
The eruption at 2:11 p.m. yesterday created an ash plume some 2 miles, government agency GeoNet said. The volcanic alert level was immediately raised to four, one notch below its top reading, before being reduced to three, GeoNet said.
"We have seen a steady decline in activity since the eruption," Geoff Kilgour, duty volcanologist at GeoNet, said in a statement. "There remains significant uncertainty as to future changes but currently, there are no signs of escalation."
New Zealand sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a belt of volcanic and seismic activity that rings the Pacific Ocean.
