Elite soldiers yesterday retrieved six bodies from New Zealand’s volatile White Island volcano, winning praise for a “courageous” mission carried out under the threat of another eruption.
At first light, two military helicopters set off from the Whakatane Airport for the offshore volcano, where an eruption on Monday killed at least 16 people and severely injured dozens more.
The goal of the team from the bomb disposal squad was to recover the remains of eight people still on New Zealand’s most active volcano, which sits 50km out to sea.
Photo: AFP
After a four-hour wait, while vulcanologists monitored live seismic feeds for signs of another explosion, police said that most of the bodies had been safely airlifted to a naval frigate anchored off the coast.
“Those staff showed absolute courage in order to ensure those six people were returned to their loved ones,” New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush told reporters, saying that they were operating in an “unpredictable and challenging” environment.
Efforts to locate the two remaining bodies were ongoing, with divers searching nearby waters after a corpse was seen floating in choppy seas on Tuesday, Bush said.
Helicopters were also searching over the Bay of Plenty and Bush did not rule out a return to the island when conditions were safer.
Drone flights helped locate the six bodies on the caldera before the operation began, and the six-strong team labored to reach them in heavy hazmat suits and breathing gear that restricted movement.
New Zealand Special Operations Component Commander Rian McKinstry said he was “incredibly proud” of the team, who dealt with heat stress as they prepared the bodies to be airlifted out.
“It was a unique operation, but unique operations are what organizations like the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Squadron gets involved in,” he said.
On the eve of the operation, GeoNet vulcanologist Nico Fournier said that the dangers facing recovery teams if an eruption occurred included magma, superheated steam, ash and cannonball-like rocks thrown from the caldera at supersonic speed.
As the military began their grim task, police took grieving families out near the volcano on a boat to perform a Maori blessing and locals chanted karakia, or prayers, on the shore as the island smoldered in the distance.
Despite the risk of an eruption inside 24 hours being put at 50 to 60 percent, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that those involved wanted to help grieving families.
“Today was all about reuniting them with their loved ones,” she said, adding that she was on tenterhooks when the military team was on the volcano.
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