NZ volcano eruption: first responder describes White Island horror

A first responder who travelled to White Island with his daughter has detailed the horror he witnessed as he helped to ferry boatloads of survivors with ‘massive’ burns.

Geoff and Lillani Hopkins who gave first aid to the victims of the White Island eruption, and White Island Tour operators rescuing people minutes after the eruption. Picture: Lillani Hopkins/Michael Schade

A man who administered first aid following Whakaari/White Island eruption has spoken of the horror he witnessed, with tourists running into the sea in an attempt to escape and boatloads of survivors “massively burnt”.

Geoff Hopkins, from Hamilton, New Zealand, had travelled to the island for his birthday with his geology student daughter.

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After visiting the island, the boat they were travelling on went back around for a final glimpse of the crater, Mr Hopkins describing the initial “beautiful” moment before the chaos began.

“As we turned to start heading back, there was just this gasp across the boat and I looked up,” Mr Hopkins told the New Zealand Herald.

“I could just see this plume of white and grey rising quite high and quite quickly.

“At that moment, it was quite beautiful – we were watching a volcano erupt in front of our very eyes.

“But then the ash just rolled up over the rock face and as it rolled over, it just suddenly became quite menacing.”

He witnessed tourists running into the sea as a lifeboat was deployed to pull in those in the water.

Boatloads of people were ferried from the island, all of them badly burnt, other than those with the helicopter.

“But where they managed to seek shelter, we don’t know,” Mr Hopkins said.

“Everyone else was horrifically burnt. People were in shorts and T-shirts so there was a lot of exposed skin that was massively burnt.

“Their faces were massively burnt.

“But there were also huge burns under people’s clothes. So their clothes looked fine, but when you cut them off … I’ve never seen blisters like that.”

That’s when the screams began, according to Mr Hopkins.

The scarce freshwater on the boat was poured over the 23 injured (with five of them critical), cutting their clothes and wrapping them in foil blankets.

“My fear now is that they didn’t make it. There were five critical people on our boat and there’s been five fatalities confirmed … they were just so badly burnt,” he said.

As the boat carrying the injured neared the mainland, the coast guard dropped off paramedics.

“I have no idea how long it took to get back, we just motored as fast as we could. But at this stage people started to go into shock.

“And they’re cold because they’re wet from pouring water on their burns.

“So instead of asking for water, we were asking for coats and jackets. People were taking their T-shirts off to give us clothes to try and keep people warm on the way back.

“I remember three Asian tourists that huddled together under a big waterproof duffel bag.”

Paramedics took the injured once they reached the shore, while a bus took the uninjured back to the White Island Tours offices where they could contact loved ones.

Mr Hopkins called his wife, and he and his daughter returned to Hamilton once given the all-clear from authorities.

“The hard thing is I know that we’ve lost people, so you start analysing. Was there something I could have done different?

“Was there something I could have done to save someone?”