Crater walk cut short ahead of lethal blast
Newevidence reveals awhakaari/ White Island crater walk was cut short in the minutes before last December’s fatal explosion, as a guide noticed the situation getting dangerous.
In audio released to Australia’s 60Minutes programme, anunnamed tour guide tells his group the island is at level two but nearing level three.
Survivor Stephanie Browitt told the programme her tour was then cut short. She lost her father and sister in the blast, suffered burns to 70 per cent of her body and has had 20 operations, with eight fingers amputated since.
She and other victims say they were left for dead and more could have been saved in themomentsafter the explosion as rescue helicopters were turned around.
Browitt, a 23-year-old Australian university graduate, stepped on to Whakaari on December 9 last year with her father Paul and sister Krystal.
The group, on a day excursion from Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas cruise ship, say they were not forewarned of any threat of eruption on the island that day.
Footage and audio, released exclusively to60 Minutes from Browitt’s cellphone, reveal for the first time the voice of the family’s unnamedtour guide pointing out the danger not long before the eruption.
“The higher the level the more risk there is of an eruption. Level three is an eruption,” the guide is heard saying.
“Oh really,” Krystal Browitt said. “So we’re on level two, nearing level three now,” the tour guide said.
The last photo of the family shows the three posing, all smiles, in front of the island’s crater.
But Browitt told60 Minutes just minutes after that picture, black smoke started to emerge.
“The first thingwedid was take a photo, not realising that’s an eruption and the danger, and only a few seconds laterweheard the front tour guides yell ‘run’.”
Browitt said the guide had earlier cut short a part of the tour because gas emissions looked unusual.
Australian John Cozad survived but lost his son Chris, whodied in hospital while John was in a coma.
“All of a sudden these hot crystals started hittingmein the forehead. They just got worse and worse. I remember saying to myself the Lord’s Prayer because I just thought I was gone.”
Surviving with his wife Lauren, Matt Urey said the blast quickly covered everything in sight.
“The visibility went to zero. I couldn’t seemyhand in front ofmy face and it was just hot.
“Everything was burning. I could feelmyskin burning.”
Wearing a full-face burns mask, Browitt told60 Minutes she thought she was going to die.
“It was just rollingmeover. The force was just that strong thatmy whole body was being shoved and pushed and rolled onto the ground and I was just hitting things whilst being burnt at the same time.
“It was the most terrifyingmoment ofmylife.”
The Ureys managed to scramble aboard a boat, which took90minutes to get back to Whakata¯ne.
“That boat ridewas agonising. We were burned horribly, wewere laying in the sun being splashed with salt water and ice cold air whilewewere completely burned.
“It was excruciatingly painful,” Matt Urey said.
Almost immediately after they saw the eruption from the mainland, helicopter pilots Jason Hill andtom Storey got in the air and wereamong the first to arrive.
They were expecting paramedics to be close behind them, but they ended up being the oneswhosaved people, including Stephanie Browitt.
The rescue helicopters were on the way, butwere told to turn around.
St John’s medical director Tony Smith told the programme the information they had at the timewas that it was not safe to fly to the island and put their people on the ground, so they returned to Whakata¯ne.
They arrived on the island an hour later, but in hindsight he said they held off too long.
“We have reflected. Knowing what weknownowwecould have flown to the island earlier but hadwegot to the island sooner I’m absolutely medically confident that unfortunatelywewouldn’t have saved any more additional people,” Smith said.
But Browitt told60 Minutes if the rescue effort was quicker others like her father and sister might have survived.
“It’s very upsetting just because I knowit would have definitelymade a difference for a lot of the people that were there, that were waiting, lives could have been saved that weren’t that day.”
Twenty-one people died, either on the day or in the weeks following. Two bodies have never been recovered from the island.
Another 26 were injured, most enduring long roads to recovery.
Aworksafe investigation into the incident is ongoing.
The first anniversary of the eruption is next month.
— Checkpoint, RNZ