White Island eruption sentencing to begin

Five companies which pleaded guilty and one which was found guilty of health and safety charges in the wake of the Whakaari White Island eruption are due to be sentenced over the next two weeks.

Forty-seven people were on the crater when it erupted on December 9, 2019, with 22 dying from extreme burns and blast injuries.

The island – a mostly submerged stratovolcano – was a popular tourist destination near Whakatāne in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.

Who will be sentenced and for what?

While WorkSafe originally filed charges against 10 organisations and three individuals, just seven companies have either pleaded guilty or been found guilty of failing to meet their obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act in the lead-up to the eruption.

One company - InFlite Charters - has already been sentenced. Judge Evangelos Thomas will now sentence the remaining six companies at the Auckland District Court in what is expected two be a two-week hearing.

The six companies are: Owners of the island Whakaari Management Limited; the country’s lead agency for monitoring volcanoes the Institute of Geological Nuclear Sciences Limited; tour operator White Island Tours; and three helicopter operators - Volcanic Air Safaris Ltd, Aerius Ltd and Kahu New Zealand Ltd.

The victims

Whakatāne local and tour guide Hayden Marshall-Inman, 40, is believed to have died on his way back to help tourists on the island. His body was never recovered.

Tipene Maangi, 23, was the second of the two White Island Tours staff members killed in the blast.

Two members of the Dallow family from Australia were also among the deceased.

Gavin Dallow, 53, was found and identified, and police later confirmed his step-daughter Zoe Hosking, 15, had also died.

Australian teenagers Berend Hollander, 16, and Matthew Hollander, 13, were also confirmed dead after the eruption. Their father, Martin Hollander, 48, and mother, Barbara Hollander, 49, died too.

Krystal Browitt, 21, from Melbourne, was also named as a victim of the eruption. Her father, Paul Browitt, 55, was taken to hospital in Australia but later died.

Jason Griffiths, a 33-year-old Woolworths employee from Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, was rescued but later died from his injuries in hospital.

Richard Elzer, 32, from Coffs Harbour in New South Wales, and his partner, Karla Mathews, 32, were both killed when the volcano erupted.

Julie Richards, 47, and her daughter, Jessica Richards, 20, were the first confirmed Australian victims of the eruption.

The pair from Brisbane were passengers on the Ovation of Seas cruise ship.

Winona Langford, 17, from Australia was also travelling on the Ovation of the Seas cruise ship with her family - Kristine Langford, 45, Anthony Langford, 51, and brother Jesse Langford.

Her parents were later confirmed dead and Jesse was taken to hospital with serious injuries. Winona’s body was never found.

Another Australian victim was named as 43-year-old father Chris Cozad from Sydney.

Pratap and Mayuari Singh, 49 and 42, from Atlanta in the United States were hospitalised for their injuries but later died in Middlemore Hospital.

Pratap was believed to have suffered burns to more than 50% of his body, while his wife had burns to 72%.

German Horst Westenfelder, 64, died months later in July 2020 at an overseas hospital, which brought the death toll to 22.