For White Island tourists

‘‘ACC wouldn’t usually fund specialist medical transport when an injured person returns to their own country,’’ Underhill said.

New Zealand government policy is not to pay to repatriate people or their bodies, and it was travel insurers who usually footed the bill, and organised flights and in-transit medical care.

Kevin Blyth, chief operating officer for travel insurer Allianz Partners, said the company had handled 12,000 medical repatriations of travellers during the past 12 months.

Many made it home on ordinary commercial flights, sometimes accompanied by a nurse, doctor, or loved one. But others were so badly injured, or so unwell, they needed an air ambulance.

‘‘That’s when it starts getting very expensive,’’ Blyth said.

Organising air ambulances, and funding their cost up-front, was handled by global assistance services offered by all travel insurers, he said.

So far Allianz Partners had not received any requests for help from tourists caught in the

Whakaari/White Island eruption, he said.

Serious injury can leave people unable to work, resulting in them facing high costs at a time when their income has been interrupted.

ACC replaces up to 80 per cent of the incomes of New Zealand residents, but not for international visitors who were injured here and could not return to work once they make it home.

Countries like the United States, Britain and Australia allow people to sue individuals or companies they deem to have caused them, or their loved ones, personal injury. This can help recoup costs, including lost income.

In New Zealand, civil claims for personal injury compensation can only happen for ‘‘exemplary damages’’, and case law has set a high bar for claims involving negligence of individuals or organisations, such as companies.

‘‘Exemplary damages are awarded by the courts for particularly blatant and reckless behaviour that causes an injury to someone,’’ according to Community Law.

‘‘Everyone gets the same funeral grant irrespective of whether a body needs to be repatriated.’’ Jonathan Underhill

ACC spokesman