Original subtitles

I could see just this enormous cloud of

black and bright white steam and ash at

that point there was definitely a shift

of I guess shock and horror

I remember that sinking feeling when I

realized there were people probably on

the island and then they were probably

really tragic consequences

when New Zealand's white island volcano

erupted on December 9 last year there

were 47 people trapped in the crater

horrified sightseers were the first on

the scene

some people's quiet very quiet

some people's screaming some people's

crying

[Music]

there was no second-guessing no

hesitation we kind of got to the victims

and started helping them put in on gas

masks in the Mora

putting them in the recovery position

making them as comfortable as we can

just reassuring them that we are there

we are there to help and we are going to

get you off the island and you're not

alone tonight on four corners the

extraordinary efforts by ordinary people

to rescue the victims of the white

island disaster we investigate how much

tourists were told and understood about

the dangers of visiting New Zealand's

most active volcano and we examine

whether more could have been done to

prevent this tragedy that's left 21

people dead and many others with

lifelong traumatic injuries

[Music]

on December 4 last year the ovation of

the Seas set sail from Sydney for New

Zealand

it was peak cruise season and thousands

of Australians had bought tickets for

one of the last troops before Christmas

on board the Royal Caribbean cruise was

a delayed lawyer Gavin de l'eau his wife

Lisa and her 15 year old daughter Zoey

Hosking Lisa and Zoey changed his life I

just know that it's the greatest thing

that ever happened to Gavin when I first

met Lisa it was you could tell it was

just something and it was just yeah so

good to see most always just so happy

[Music]

they were really looking forward to it

and then Gavin

Sealand picture of them and that's why

we're going through Sydney heads and

said goodbye stride airline New Zealand

also on the ovation of the Seas was

Sydney family the Lankford's mum and dad

Christine and Anthony and their teenage

children Jesse and Winona John Cozad and

his son Chris from New South Wales were

on board to

[Music]

there were lots of families taking I

suppose an early Christmas or a leading

to their Christmas holidays and the

mindset really is to be carefree to let

the cruise company look after the

holiday they've paid a lot of money

they've planned for it they've taken

leave from work the mindset is I can let

them look after me

one of the highlights offered to

passengers was a day trip to visit white

island volcano everyone just happened to

mention that he was going to white

island because he knew it was on my

bucket list because I wanted to go there

he didn't say not to tell anyone but as

it turned out I was the only person in

the family that he sort of let know they

were provided with a brochure that was

branded with Royal Caribbean branding

they would have been provided with a

ticket also branded with royal about

Caribbean branding and they were told in

the brochure that all they needed to do

if they are attending this show was to

wear enclose shoes

the brochure promised tourists could get

close to the drama it said gas masks

help you get near roaring steam vents

bubbling pits of mud hot volcanic

streams and the amazing Lake of steaming

acid they were told to think about

whether they were okay with doing a

strenuous walk people in wheelchairs

were told that it probably wasn't a good

idea for them to go on the island but

generally all they were told is this was

an adventurous fun thing to do and just

to wear in clothes shoes what would they

told about the risks and the risk of an

eruption nothing absolutely nothing

tourism New Zealand promoted white

island to Australian travel agents as

one of the country's hidden gems

what island is an active volcano it's a

cone volcano it's the type of volcano

that a kid would draw at school it's a

typical regularly erupting active

volcano the different thing about white

island is most of it's underwater so the

tip of the island only is poking out

through the ocean

[Music]

more than 18,000 people visited the

island each year there would be

something like a future going to Mars

the landscapes so unique the colors are

real fluorescent and different at such a

harsh looking environment and it's

active you know things are always

changing Jews always sounds or vents and

stuff you know it was just a real real

awesome awesome place

when you arrive at wide island you're

transferred into a zodiac rubber boat

usually six to ten people and you're

then ferried to this rough concrete

landing where you are gingerly helped

from the boat onto the landing platform

when you actually land on the island and

you walk into the crater of the volcano

you're actually walking right into the

throat of an active volcano that is

erupted frequently in the last several

decades

in 2016 scientists got a warning of just

how dangerous an eruption on white

island could be

so there was an eruption in 2016 it was

at night it was a similar eruption and

that it had call him up in the air it

produced a surge out across the ground

it probably threw quite a lot of rock

and ballistics but there was nobody on

the island that's the big difference it

was very clear that if people had been

on that island at that time in 2016 it

would have been very hard to survive and

and we put that in our bulletins as our

main communication mechanism afterwards

to make that really clear the whole area

where tourists walk when they visit the

island was inundated with the deposits

of that explosive eruption and that of

course should immediately have raised an

alert that it's a dangerous place to

allow people to walk my personal point

of view is they should have stopped

tourist activities particularly in terms

of landing on the island late last year

the volcanic activity on the island

increased on December 3 the government

body that monitors white Island said the

volcano may be entering a period where

eruptive activity is more likely than

normal

we had raised the alert level to level

two that's the highest level it can be

at when it's not erupting that's because

we could see tremor in the volcano

increasing over those those months we

could also see some increases in that

gas that we're monitoring at the volcano

indicating that unrest was was up a

level two doesn't necessarily indicate

that you will therefore get an explosive

eruption you often do because things

escalate but sometimes everything

settles down and remains at level two

we've gone out there before on a level

two plenty of times and it's done

nothing that would quite often change

from a legal - to a level one but a

level two in a level one as it's more

dangerous driving on a road probably

mean being out there you know do you

think if Gavin had known that there was

a level two risk he wouldn't have gone

because he'd been the one of the risks

so any danger those align himself so I'm

quite sure that is favorable to danger

on the morning of December 9 several

tour groups were heading to white Island

New Zealand residents Jeff Hopkins and

his daughter lolani drove to [ __ ] on a

the launch point for tours to the

volcano we're really excited about going

and we knew that we had a great day

ahead of ourselves and we're really

looking forward to it

something I've always been real

interested in and dad went when he was a

lot younger so it was for me something

that was real cool for us to do together

their trip due to leave at 10 a.m. was

run by a well-known group called white

island tours which was the only operator

taking people to the island by boat we

checked in read a disclaimer signed in

gave our next to kin details etc

received a boarding pass which was a

metal cone and then from there just

across the road and waited by the boat

for the crew to start loading Jeff and

Alana can be seen here on the wharf

waiting to get on the white island to

his boat the Phoenix the video was

filmed by Brazilian tourists

Alessandro Kaufmann yeah we just take

the camera and just film everything you

know like a blog or vlog and like this

Alessandra was on the tour with his wife

Eleni

yeah it was like just excitement to get

there and you see how like hotties

the last one first

we can see there the white island so far

as well it's huge it's amazing

when we first got on the island

there was a brief safety briefing and it

was very very brief it was just you know

don't touch anything don't take anything

stay on the path and stay in between the

tour guides that was kind of about it

what were you told about what to do in

the event of an eruption there was no

safety briefing about what to do in an

eruption

lolani and I talked with the guide a

little while later as we were on our

tour and then we talked a little bit

about eruptions and what to do

interruptions so it wasn't to the group

it was just between the three of us had

they explained to you at all what to do

if there was some sort of incident like

an eruption I don't really remember that

so I don't remember explanation body

alessandro kept filming as the - a guide

warned about getting too close to the

steam area where these have put a

bubbling water take that big question

because it does have a cap look when

children sort of beans up their feet and

we may need to use your mask of the air

tight if you did get in go for this

thing especially turn your big to it and

if you need to you can just crouch down

the tour really just kind of took us up

on a meandering path up to the crater

past various sulphur deposits and vents

etc it's very rugged and gray as rocks

are but then that's intermingled was the

beautiful yellows of sulphur crystals

whites and then some of the streams that

have got green and brown and red algae

[Music]

the walking track crossed a shallow

Creek the group hiked towards the crater

lake the highlight of the tour right in

the center of the island we talked about

the crater lake it's not excessively hot

but highly acidic and it was always

steaming but it was a bit of wind about

and as the wind blew the steam every now

and again you could get a glimpse of the

lake did you feel at any point like

there was a risk that the volcano could

erupt yeah sure I think all the time all

the time and we I think in this risk you

know you have to risk about everything

you know when you walk to the street or

when you take your car to go somewhere

everything you got a risk while they

would there lolani photographed a

helicopter run by volcanic air landing

on the island with a pilot and four

passengers

as their group made its way back to the

boat they passed the ruins of an old

sulphur factory and Alessandro checked

his watch it was 11 minutes to 2 22

minutes before the eruption

we weren't in any hurry to get back onto

the boat people had started to load on

the inflatable we knew there was another

tour on the on the island because their

boat was was anchored in the bay as well

as Alessandro headed back to the jetty

he filmed another white Island to his

boat anchored in the bay it had brought

38 passengers from the ovation of the

Seas including Gavin Dallow his wife

Lisa and her daughter Zoe among their

tour guides would tip any monkey

Kelsey Waghorn and Hayden Marshall Inman

they'd been reviled on to us ten years

and he started as a guide many enjoyed

people his passion for people was huge

and his passion for the outdoors and the

ocean was massive so for him to fill in

to a job where he could get all the

above like the perfect perfect

opportunity for him

as the group from the Phoenix left the

island they took some final photos

looking up towards the crater lake at

one point the captain said over the

tannoy if you look in the distance right

against the steam cloud of the crater

lake you can see some dots and those

dots were the other tall party so he

pointed them out there were people up

there on the crowded lake what do you

know about that crater is that it's an

amphitheater shaped crater with very

steep sites so you're totally enclosed

within a confined space with nowhere to

escape should an event suddenly occur

[Music]

at 11 minutes past 2:00 the Phoenix and

its passengers were about to head back

to the mainland when the volcano erupted

[Music]

as I turned around I could see over the

top of the canopy as I looked up just

this enormous cloud of black and bright

white steam and ash quite beautiful but

just towering I had a know a few hundred

meters up into the sky and instantly I I

knew it was erupting but it just in that

second there was just something that

that was quite beautiful about it

[Music]

these first pictures were filmed by the

passengers is their boat headed away

from the island

[Music]

the eruption was short it only lasted a

minute or two it was a steam eruption

the key thing with these steam eruptions

as they're unpredictable it generated a

column of ash and hot water and steam

straight up and then led into a surge of

hot steam and ash moving outwards across

the ground it also looks like it had

some flying rocks some what we call

ballistics coming through the air as

well the system that exploded the

hydrothermal system would have been at 2

or 300 degrees or more there was no

opportunity to provide the tourists with

a warning that there was an impending

eruption and given that the debris is

flying through the air at speeds of up

to 100 meters per second that means that

people would have had no warning and no

opportunity really to seek any safety

on the Phoenix or quickly turned to

horror

we are outside i canna back the boat and

I just thought the people outside just

go inside because I know that the the

clowns come to us there was a rolling

ash cloud that came up to the top of the

cliff and as a tumbled over the cliff

and as it tumbled down to the cliff kind

of came out and started to come out to

the sea that completely obscured the

whole island I'd never seen anything

anything like it but at that point there

was definitely a shift of of I guess

shock and horror

man

Jesus

oh man I'm sure look everybody sat down

and I think that stage was when the

reality was really kicking in the we

knew there were other people on the

island 47 people including 38 passengers

from the ovation of the Seas were still

on the island after escaping the ash

cloud the captain of the Phoenix turned

back to the jetty to help the island was

now just monotone gray there was no

color to it at all it was as if someone

had taken a a can of under coat spray

and just sprayed everything the other

tour groups boat that was anchored again

was completely and perfectly evenly

covered in ash

the first thing I could see was one

person in the water swimming out to that

boat and then I could see another person

swimming and then I saw a third person

and then I could see others that were

gathered around the jetty where we'd

gone on and off from where we landed on

the island the next thing they saw was

the mangled volcanic air helicopter that

had been blown off its landing pad the

helicopter was just looking crippled

with his broken rotors and at that stage

the crew had lowered the inflatable boat

and they'd started a rescue mission to

pick people up

one of the tour guides that I had spoken

quite closely with she came in to get

some first aid kits and me and dad went

up and asked her if she needed help

because we both have our first aid

certificates and she said that she

needed all the help she can get she's

got multiple burn victims

as injured survivors were brought on to

the Phoenix the crew asked passengers

not to film when the first people God's

abode like most of them was really

really hard we start to help them to

clean that ash in the earthling pen

might be so people's quiet very quiet

some people's screaming some people's

crying

first thing that I saw was a survivor

came on the back of the boat and she was

just like burnt like I've never seen

burns before some were just in t-shirts

and shorts so their arms were burnt or

their legs were burned and really all we

could do was just try and cool them with

fresh water a lot of them had lost skin

so put clothing over it to act as skin

and then would pour water onto that

clothing and then once we had I guess

called people's burns I cleared eyes and

Airways people had ash in their mouths

it was a case of keeping people from

going in and out of consciousness people

going in shock

one of the first people brought on board

was Kelsey Waghorn the white island to

his guide who survived with terrible

burns she had severe burns to her hands

her arms her legs due to I guess her

clothing and quite a few people that had

very I guess protective clothing on

we're mostly just burnt on their faces

and their hands and which were not as

severe as those that had burns over

their whole body the most severe burns

were ones that had no skin left it would

just kind of dripped off them like wax

and that's something that I never

thought I'd ever see um and something I

hope I never have to see again

with more than 20 victims loaded on

board the Phoenix quickly became crowded

I ended up at the front of the boat with

six of the most critical and these were

laid out on the floor in and out of

consciousness

I shot not really making any sound at

all as opposed to I guess the ones at

the back which were more screaming

crying and there was a real mixture in

there Jeff was on the front of the boat

with American Lauren URI she was on her

honeymoon with her husband Matthew they

were both seriously injured but survived

she was in so much pain

as she was burn pretty much across most

of her body she was then started to

drift in and out of consciousness she

really became my myself focus she asked

me not to leave her and I promised I

wouldn't

and that became I wasn't going to break

that promise that's where I stayed

there are the moments that everyone was

feeling so cold you gave all of the

clothes the tops the jackets we could to

keep them warm but there is a moment

that it was enough it was enough they

were feeling so cold they were losing

temperature so what I could do was hug

them trying to warm up with arms and

their body and you think it to me make

them alive maybe

another victim brought onto the Phoenix

was 72 year old Australian man John

Kaase ad who'd been on the volcano tour

with his son Chris I remember this

elderly guy and he was will you worried

with his son he was the person who was

most worried about he was feeling cold

and he was started to get purple and

really really quiet I was so worried I

just hugging if I could do that moment

till we got the cost I did it and I saw

after he was coming back his collar I

think it helped John survived but his

son Chris died later in hospital

they seemed like eternity to get the

cost again because it wasn't really

fired Ireland's far from the course

people on the mainland saw the eruption

but they had no idea the horror that was

unfolding to a guide Hayden Marshall

inman's brother Marc could see the

volcano from his home I think the first

contact I had was for my wife and she

could see some smoke you see what's

going on is that white Island I said

what do you mean you can see smoke is

that white I said I won't have a quick

look I made a few phone calls firstly to

my dad if you didn't go to work today

was one of the first things you know and

we both couldn't get hold of him uh we

just made the assumption that he had

gone which he had and he'd gone as a

guide rather than a skipper this day

[Music]

as news of the eruptions spread a group

of helicopter pilots who regularly took

visitors to white island launched a

remarkable rescue operation it was about

quarter past two my phone rung in

another pilot Luke Lamont who works out

that Co who rang me and said up the

island look like it was blown up I

didn't know if anyone was on the island

I just decided I was going to be more

help back at the hangar if there's

anything I could do to help

Tom's boss mark Lord jumped in one

helicopter

Tom and another pilot Jason Hill got

into another

we were just going there hoping that we

were going to find everyone taking

photos of it safe and sound

volcano five ghost counselor and a loser

in nearby Rotorua volcanic air pilot Tim

Barrow was in his hangar when he heard

about the eruption

I grabbed the first aircraft that was

ready to fly basically and one of my

guys and we got airborne there was no

second guessing no hesitation it was as

simple as going and getting the job done

that's the best of our ability they

didn't know it as they flew out there

but there were 20 people still on the

island

some badly injured others already dead

I suppose my first recollection was the

view that I got from the advantage of

being high you know being able to look

down into the crater and seeing the

steam in the ash

we landed behind that helicopter that

was blowing off the pier I was at that

point there that me and Jace at each

other and realized there must have been

quite a significant force to push that

helicopter off they aired that far and

through the damage it had done so that

was really we not heard that yeah this

is this has been quite a serious I mean

mark grabbed us and gave us a plan to do

so pretty much you know right cause

we've got some victims during this

vicinity there is a range of different

injuries we'll go there and just help

them as much as we can to help arrives

so we're going to got to the victims

started helping them put in on gas masks

giving them water putting them in the

recovery position making them as

comfortable as we can just reassuring

them that we we are there we are there

to help and we are going to get you off

the island and you're not alone the

conditions they were working inward

toxic without a gas mask it was really

hard to breathe almost impossible to

breathe just a real real sharp sting in

your throat and sweet or anything we did

enjoy or anything in the oils wearing

sunglasses yeah you always would start

burning and some places it was going to

have a foot deep of ICH going to halfway

up tea any and that you're running

through and kinda quite eerie is the

volcano you could still see it was

stashing at the time we're out there it

was still raining ash on us

the pilots carried a total of 12 people

onto three helicopters I know of one

person that I carried that was alive

when I was carrying but by the time I

got to the helicopter I had a suspicion

that and they may have passed away I

told mark and Maxie that we'll just

carry on and just just put them in the

obviously I felt hugely concerned for

the two survivors that we had on board

they weren't in good shape and I wish I

could have sped that flight up a hundred

times and had those guys back in a

millisecond and not the time a tuck

what condition were they in when we help

them off the chopper one of our

passengers sadly had passed away on the

flight back and the other one was in a

bad way

[Music]

despite the risk of another eruption

Tom's stayed on the island to search for

more survivors as he ran down the creek

towards the sea he found the body of two

a guide Hayden Marshall Inman to be

honest it was no surprise I came across

Hayden's body if anyone was going to be

left on the island it's gonna be Hayden

I kinda ran down to him and pulled him

out of the creek and just propped him up

on the rock and at that stage I thought

right start running around and see if we

can find any more people further up the

creek Tom found the body of another

guide Tiffany monkey what was pretty

obvious is that the first group of

people we had found there was a 40 at

first aid kit they opened so we're 100%

suits and that's happening in Hayden

actually come across that group and help

them and started offering them first aid

and I think a huge part of us being able

to find those people still alive was

because of those two guys actions there

were five other bodies nearby

I found two girls that were there at the

time

unfortunately they passed away not long

after I'd found them so just made them

comfortable as we could and it wasn't

till we were coming back along by the

factory that we found another victim

across the creek from us and so we cross

the creek in and we knocked to that

victim

unfortunately they were they were passed

away that was 17 year old teenager

Winona Langford she'd been on the tour

with her parents Christine and Anthony

and brother Jesse only Jesse survived

finally search-and-rescue paramedics

arrived by helicopter and landed near

the jetty

I talked to a medic there explain to

them where I placed the bodies that we

had eight victims that I knew of at the

time that were all deceased

I didn't know if anyone else was on the

island at that point I just could just

identify the eighth that we'd come

across I was at that point that we were

then instructed to leave the island

when the injured survivors arrived at

the mainland they were met by emergency

services

there was everyone you could ever

managed and there were doctors they were

fire they were ambulance there was Coast

Guard and they were getting us to help

them with those who are most critical

and then getting them off the boat those

that could walk or walk to the

restaurant on stretchers mark Inman was

still waiting for news of his brother

Haden that first boat arrived and Haden

wasn't on it and obviously a lot of his

friends are in the crew and one of the

skippers actually said that Haden didn't

didn't get on the boat he's not on the

boat especially on this one and he's not

there and in that meantime we'd heard

from the pilots that they're pretty sure

he had never made it

[Music]

on board the cruise ship the ovation of

the Seas families were waiting for their

loved ones to return from the day trip

to white island hours passed before they

found out what had happened

there are accounts of people who only

found out about this tragedy through a

panicked phone call from a family member

back in Australia saying turn on the TV

and look at what's happened on my Island

the accounts I've heard of that the

staff members did not communicate and

when they were confronted about it they

told the family members to sit in a room

for an extended amount of time and with

no information and wasted precious hours

that they could have been using to see

their family members in hospital before

a lot of some did pass away

Gavin de l'eau his wife Lisa and her

daughter Zoey were among those who

hadn't returned to the cruise ship as we

go to air tonight at least 27 people are

missing after a volcano erupted off the

coast of New Zealand one person has been

confirmed dead we were watching me 6

o'clock news

New Zealand's most active volcano

exploded and then they're fearing and

said the day was on the oil so the first

instinct to curse was to Dolly's mobile

phone several times but we didn't answer

that's right

so we knew there was something gap we

knew Gavin was on the island we knew

though he was on the island we knew they

were in the shore party we were told

that by oh the authorities in New

Zealand and so we knew they were in that

party but you have no idea who got off

or who didn't and who was burnt and who

had been injured and all those sorts of

things so you had no idea you just knew

they were there that was in vine I think

could they fake a bail more on to be you

something was really wrong and on

Saturday there are Angus society that

he'd been officially identified and from

then on it was just a matter of bringing

now

there were eight bodies still left on

the island the effort to rescue them was

delayed because of fears of another

eruption we were sort of almost assured

that it don't worry we've put him

somewhere and we're heading back and

then when that when that call was made

not to go back there was a moment in

time that changed everything

mhm yeah that that moment in time meant

we'd never see em again

when official rescue teams arrived on

the island four days later only six

bodies were there the bodies of Hayden

Marshall Inman and Winona Langford had

been washed away by heavy rain

there isn't a day goes by that you don't

or should there isn't a day go by you

don't think about both we're not no

Hayden says we said Hayden Hayden would

always be the last man standing he's

become the guardian of Picardy and he he

had opportunity to come home and he

chose to stay and and look after it when

I know so

among the bodies recovered was Gavin

dello stepdaughter Zoe Hosking Gavin's

wife Lisa had survived but was badly

injured she was one of the people

rescued by the pilots if we have made a

difference to one person's life it's all

been with you know it's all with it

yeah fantastic and you know that's if

that's the case that's there's a

wonderful result in New Zealand WorkSafe

and the coroner are both looking into

the tragedy but their investigations

could take more than a year I don't put

any blame on wild and tours they gave me

an opportunity twice to be on that

island and to experience it and

thousands of people have been able to do

that without incident I'm satisfied that

you know what what they talked to us

about I didn't expect anything more from

them and certainly after the eruption

I've never thought they could have done

more

there's no way in this world that any of

us would have put people on the island

if we'd thought for a moment not one

millisecond that there would have been a

result like this

19 of the 21 people who died were from

the Ovation of the seas Sydney lawyer

Rita Youssef is representing passengers

and family members who believe the

cruise operator Royal Caribbean didn't

do enough to warn its guests this

particular volcano was at level 2 at the

very least Royal Caribbean which held

itself out to be responsible for this

tool I should have been monitoring this

and communicating with participants as

to the risk and giving them the choice

an informed choice to decide not to go

because of this risk how much

responsibility is on the participant in

the tour to do their own research to

find out how safe or unsafe something is

I would say none and that's because

they're relying on this company to do

that for them they're handing over money

their hard-earned money for somebody

else to be responsible for that

for many families the grief is still

very raw I think probably like anybody

in the same situation we're having our

moments we've got these Casey

[Music]

so help me the next bit of trauma love

gotta go through things are just not

gonna go away for a while yeah so we

just lived oh boy die I know that not

everyone survived unfortunately but I

just constantly just wished the best for

their families and for that those people

almost survived

[Music]

what the rescuers saw that day will stay

with them forever but their efforts to

save the victims of the white island

eruption won't be forgotten I think I

would be brave because I would go off

their arms as fast as I could or blast

anybody's if I picked up they cut their

own lives in danger that official

why does hope that falls Eva or any of

my family members are in that same

situation and someone would do the same

for them

yeah and just hope that leave I've got a

bit of reassurance that we we were there

to help them man and we tried our best

to make them as comfortable and as

peaceful as we could

I'm just so glad they did what they did

absolute bloody heroes and you know and

I hope for their sake that what they've

seen doesn't hold them for a long long

time

[Music]

you

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