Charges filed stemming from the White Island volcanic eruption

摘要

The expansion energy can shatter solid rock, excavate craters and eject rock fragments and ash out to hundreds of metres away from the vent. Violent ejections of hot blocks and ash, and the formation of hurricane-like currents of wet ash and coarse particles radiating from the explosion vent, can cause impact trauma, burns and respiratory injuries. Cronin (2020a,b) has reviewed the circumstances surrounding this volcanic eruption. Forty-seven people were on Whakaari (White Island), located 52km offshore from Whakatane when the crater erupted on 9 December last year, showering tourists and guides with rocks, clouds of ash and toxic gases, killing 22 people and injuring 25. The victims were tourists and their guides on an adventure tourism visit to the island and the volcanic vent. Many survivors suffered horrific burns and Ngati Awa-owned tour operator White Island Tours came under scrutiny for continuing to run guided trips, even though GNS Science had raised its volcanic warning to alert level 2 two weeks earlier and banned its staff from going near vents a week before the eruption. It appears that even though the volcanic alert level had been raised to 'unrest' several days before the eruption, the visitors and their guides were unaware of the likelihood and consequences of an eruption. WorkSafe chief executive Phil Parkes said that those who went to the island did so with the reasonable expectation that there were appropriate systems in place to ensure they made it home healthy and safe.