22 Lives Lost in 2019 White Island Volcanic Eruption

Three helicopter tour operators have pleaded guilty to willfully violating safety protocols during the 2019 eruption of New Zealand’s White Island volcano. The disaster claimed 22 lives and severely injured over twenty additional individuals.

Notwithstanding volcanic activity, White Island is a popular tourist attraction and a perennial moneymaker for air-tourism concerns.

The guilty pleas entered by Volcanic Air Safaris Ltd., Kahu NZ Ltd., Aerius Ltd., and six additional business entities and individuals precluded court proceedings slated to have gotten underway the week of 09 July.

At the time of 09 December 2019 eruption, 47 people were known to have been on the island—which, in fact, is the tip of an undersea volcano known as Whakaari to the region’s indigenous Maori population. The majority of the 25 individuals not killed outright by the eruption suffered severe burns attributable to superheated steam.

Questions pertaining to why tourists were allowed on the island abound—particularly in light of the fact volcanologists monitoring Whakaari’s seismic activity dramatically raised the volcano’s alert level two-weeks prior to the eruption.

The three aforementioned helicopter operators admitted they’d failed to ensure the health and safety of staff and tourists.

Many of those killed and injured were Australian tourists traveling aboard the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Ovation of the Seas. The eruption ended the lives of 14 Australians, five Americans, two New Zealanders, and one German.

The judge-only trial—to be convened in lieu of a jury trial—commenced 10 July 2023 and is scheduled to span 16-weeks.

Each of the defendant organizations faces a maximum fine of 1.5-million New Zealand dollars ($927,000). Each individual defendant faces a maximum fine of 300,000 New Zealand dollars ($185,000).

The three helicopter tour operators will appear in court in August.

FMI: www.govt.nz