Wellington - Continued tremors on Wednesday have prevented
police from retrieving the bodies of eight people still on New
Zealand's White Island after a marine volcano erupted on Monday.
"This is an utterly tragic situation," National Civil Defence
director Sarah Stuart-Black said at a press conference. "We all agree
that recovering bodies of the deceased from the island is an absolute
imperative."
She added that every day that passes was anguish for loved ones, but
the preservation of human life and the prevention of further human
harm must be taken into account.
Five people died after being evacuated from the island off the east
coast of New Zealand's North Island on Monday and another person died
on Tuesday in an Auckland hospital.
Police said earlier that they knew from a helicopter pilot who spent
some time on the island in the aftermath of the eruption that "every
person on that island was not alive at that time."
GNS Science senior scientist Graham Leonard told the media on
Wednesday that the risk of another eruption on White Island, also
known by its Maori name Whakaari, had increased since the morning.
A tour operator's boat to White Island is seen at the harbour in Whakatane. Picture: Jorge Silva/Reuters
Police Deputy Commissioner John Tims said police were standing by to
go back to the island but it was currently too dangerous.
Tims also apologized for announcing on Tuesday that police had
launched a criminal investigation into the tragedy, a comment that
was later corrected as being an investigation on behalf of the
coroner.
He said that police had managed to identify all of the missing and
injured and would release further information shorty.
These include 24 people from Australia, nine from the United States,
five from New Zealand, four from Germany and two each from China,
Britain and Malaysia.
Currently 30 patients are being treated in burn units at six
hospitals around the country. Of those, 22 still remained on airway
support due to the severity of their injuries.
Coroner Deborah Marshall and acting assistant police commissioner Bruce Bird address a press conference in Whakatane, New Zealand. Picture: Nick Perry/AP
Peter Watson, Counties Manukau Health's chief medical officer said
they were urgently sourcing supplies to meet the demand for dressings
and temporary skin grafts.
"We anticipate we will require an additional 1.2 million square
centimetres of skin for the ongoing needs of the patients," Watson
said, adding that some of the patients had burns to 90 or 95 per cent
of their skin.
Australian patients would soon be flown back to be treated in burn
units there.