An Irishwoman thought to be caught up in the New Zealand volcano tragedy wasn't near White Island, it has emerged.
Eimear Doyle's family were concerned for her wellbeing when they couldn't contact her for two days, leading to fears she was caught up in the disaster.
Eimear's name was posted on the New Zealand Red Cross website, which allows people to register the names of their loved ones gone missing in the disaster.
The name of the 26 year-old, from Ballymurn, Co Wexford was published and later tagged as “I am alive.”
The volcanic eruption on New Zealand’s White Island has killed at least six people and injured 18, but the death toll is expected to rise once rescuers carry out a search for bodies.
Her brother Rory said: “Eimear’s out there touring and we hadn’t heard from her and we were just making sure that she definitely wasn’t at the volcano and that’s why we rang New Zealand to see.
“When we heard the volcano went off we were trying to ring her over but she wasn’t answering.
“We hadn’t heard from her in two days and that was all we were doing, we were making sure that she definitely wasn’t on the list of people, so we left it then.
“She could have been easily there but she wasn’t thank God.
“She was 100 miles away from it.
“The reason why we couldn’t get through to her was there was a rain storm or something there and she hadn’t got any reception.”
It is believed that no other Irish person was caught up in the disaster.
Rory continued: “Yeah I was [relieved] but she just couldn’t contact us.”
Rory added: “She doesn’t know [anything about her making headlines], she’s probably asleep at the minute.
“Ah she should [see the funny side], she’ll have to...”
