An Australian man has died of his injuries in hospital following last month’s catastrophic eruption of New Zealand’s White Island volcano, police have confirmed.
The death toll now stands at 20, with two people whose bodies have not been found presumed dead and more than 20 still in hospital.
Paul Browitt and his two daughters were visiting the island when the disaster unfolded. His wife Maria Browitt, also the mother of the two women, had remained on a ship while her family took a day trip there.
His younger daughter, veterinary student Krystal, 21, was among the first victims to be named after her body was recovered from the island in the days following the eruption.
Mr Browitt and his other daughter Stephanie, 23, survived the catastrophe and were transferred to Alfred Hospital in their hometown of Melbourne three days later.
A police statement confirmed Mr Browitt succumbed to his injuries on Sunday night. The hospital said he had been critically ill.
At least five of the 23 victims who remain in New Zealand and Australian hospitals are listed as in critical condition.
Authorities won’t comment on the conditions of two victims in Sydney at the request of relatives.
Alfred Hospital said it was continuing to give specialised burn care to two volcano victims transferred there, including Stephanie Browitt. The other has been named as Lisa Dallow, 48, of Adelaide.
The hospital said one of the patients was in critical condition and the other was stable. It would not confirm which of the women was in the more serious condition.
Ms Dallow’s husband Gavin Dallow, 53, and daughter Zoe Hosking, 25, were killed on the island.
White Island, also known by its Maori name, Whakaari, is the tip of an undersea volcano about 50 kilometres off New Zealand’s North Island and was a popular tourist destination before the eruption.
Many of those killed and injured were from the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Ovation of the Seas.
A number of people have questioned why tourists were still allowed on the island after New Zealand’s GeoNet seismic monitoring agency raised the volcano’s alert level more than two weeks before the disaster.
The agency raised the alert on November 18 from one to two - on a scale where 5 represents a major eruption - noting an increase in sulfur dioxide gas, which originates from magma.
New Zealand authorities are investigating the circumstances around the disaster.
The volcano remains at an alert level of two, indicating moderate to heightened unrest.
