NZ police not moving to recover bodies from White Island volcano until safe to do so

Record ID: 1447539

  • Title: NZ police not moving to recover bodies from White Island volcano until safe to do so
  • Date: 11th December 2019
  • Summary: WHAKATANE, NEW ZEALAND (DECEMBER 11, 2019) (REUTERS) POLICE CHIEF WALKING TO MICROPHONE CHIEF CORONER (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTING ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER BRUCE BIRD, SAYING: "We will release the names of those who have sadly died as soon as the formal identification process has been completed." (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF CORONER JUDGE DEBORAH MARSHALL, SAYING: "The pathologist gathered further examination during the post mortem examination and those post mortems have started already in Auckland." (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTING ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER BRUCE BIRD, SAYING: "We will make decisions based on all the facts we have got and we will not be moving there until the situation is safe for us to operate on.” (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTING ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER BRUCE BIRD, SAYING: "We have got to be certain of the environmental situation out there on the island. And then we can make some decisions once we have got all that information. Safety for our staff is a huge priority for us and we have got to get this right." (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTING ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER BRUCE BIRD, SAYING: "We are assessing all the factors every two or three hours to see when we can go." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS
  • Embargoed: 25th December 2019 00:09
  • Keywords: New Zealand latest update New Zealnd police newser White Island several feared dead and missing
  • Location: WHAKATANE, NEW ZEALAND
  • City: WHAKATANE, NEW ZEALAND
  • Country: New Zealand
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Earthquakes/Volcanoes/Tsunami
  • Reuters ID: LVA001B9J6JPJ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Increasing tremor activity on a volcanic island in New Zealand has hampered efforts by authorities to recover the bodies of eight people believed to be on the island, two days after it erupted.
    Six people were killed in Monday's explosion at White Island, which lies some 50 km (30 miles) off the mainland, with another eight missing and presumed dead.
    Police said on Wednesday (December 11) the safety of recovery teams was the priority and are awaiting advice from experts on when they could access the island, which was covered with hot ash and steam in the eruption. That has prompted some criticism authorities are being too cautious.
    There were 47 people on White Island at the time of the eruption. Twenty-four of those were from Australia, nine from the United States, five from New Zealand, four from Germany, two each from China and Britain and one from Malaysia.
    (Production: James Redmayne, Parul Gupta, Edward Baran)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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