♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ male: oh my god, oh my god. geoff hopkins: i could see just this enormous cloud of black and bright white steam and ash. at that point there was definitely a shift of, i guess, shock and horror. male: go, go, go, go, go, jesus! graham leonard: i remember that sinking feeling when i realized there were people probably on the island and that there were probably really tragic consequences.

male: holy crap! oh my god. oh my god. stephanie march: when new zealand's white island volcano erupted on december 9 last year, there were 47 people trapped in the crater. female: oh my god, there are people there! male: oh no. stephanie: horrified sightseers were the first on the scene. aline kauffmann: some people was quiet, very quiet, some people was screaming, some people was crying. tim barrow: there was no second-guessing, no hesitation. tom storey: we kind of got to the victims, started helping them, putting on gas masks, giving them water, putting them in the recovery position, making them as comfortable as we can. just reassuring them that we are there, we are there to help, and we are going to get you off the island and you're not alone. stephanie: tonight on "four corners": the extraordinary efforts by ordinary people to rescue the victims of the white island disaster.

we investigate how much tourists were told and understood about the dangers of visiting new zealand's most active volcano. and we examine whether more could have been done to prevent this tragedy that's left 21 people dead and many others with lifelong traumatic injuries. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ stephanie: on december 4 last year, the ovation of the seas set sail from sydney for new zealand. it was peak cruise season, and thousands of australians had bought tickets for one of the last trips before christmas. on board the royal caribbean cruise was adelaide lawyer gavin dallow, his wife lisa, and her 15-year-old daughter,

zoe hoskin kym loechel: lisa and zoe . i justnow that's the greatest thing that ever happened to gavin. when i first met lisa, it was-- you could tell there was just something, and it wasust, yeah, so good to see-- most of all, he was just so happy. brian dallow: they were really looking forward to it, and then gavin sent a picture of them as they were going through sydney heads and said, "goodbye australia, hello new zealand." stephanie: also on the ovion of theeas was sydney family the langfords, mum and dad kristine and anthony and their teenage children jesse and winona. john cozad and his son chris from new south wales were on board too. rita yousef: there were lots of famils taking, suppose,

an early christmas, or a lead-in to their christmas holidays, and the mind-set really is to be carefree, to let the cruise company look after their holiday. they've paid a lot of money, they've planned for it, they've taken leave from work. their mind-set is, "i can let them look after me." stephanie: one of the highlights offered to passengers was a day trip to visit white island volcano. kym: gavin just happened to mention that he was going to white island 'cause he knew it was on my bucket list, 'cause i wanted to go there. he didn't say not to tel anyone, but as it turned out, i was the only person in the family that he'd sort of let know. rita: they were provided with a brochure that was branded with royal caribbean branding. they would have been provided with a ticket, also branded with royacaribbean branding. and they were told in the brochure that all they needed to do if they were attending this tour was to wear enclosed shoes.

stephanie: the brochure promised tourists could "get close to the drama." it said, "gas masks help you get near roaring steam vents, bubbling pits of mud, hot volcanic streams, and the amazing ke of steaming acid." rita: they were told to think about whether they were okay with doing a strenuous walk. people in wheelchairs were told that it probably wasn't a good idea for them to go on the island, but generally, all they were told is this was an adventurous, fun thing to do and just to wear enclosed shoes. stephanie: what were they told about the risks and the risk of an eruption? rita: nothing, absolutely nothing. stephanie: tourism new zealand promoted white island to australian travel agents as one of the country's "hidden gems."

graham: white island is an active volcano. it's a cone volcano, it's the type of volcano that a kid would draw at school. it's a typical regularly erupting active volcano. the different thing about white island is most of it's underwater, so the tip of the island only is poking out through the ocean. stephanie: more than 18,000 people visited the island each year. tom: it would be something like if you pictured going to mars. the landscape's so unique, the colors are real fluorescent and different, it's such a harsh-looking environment. and it's active, y know, things were always changing, there was always sounds or vents and stuff, you know. it was just a real, real, awesome, awesome place. raymond cas: when you arrive at white island you're transferred into a zodiac rubber boat, usually six to ten people,

and you're then ferried to this rough concrete landing where you are gingerly helped from the boat onto the landing platform. when you actually land on the island and you walk into the crater of the volcan you're actually walking right into the throat of an active volcano that has erupted frequently in the last several decades. stephanie: in 2016, scientists got a warning of just how dangerous an eruption on white island could be. graham: so there was an eruption in 2016, it was at night. it was a similar eruption in that it had a column up in the air, it produced a surge out across the ground, it probably threw quite a lot of rock and ballistics. but there was nobody on the island, that's the big difference. it was very clear that if people had been on that island at that time in 2016, it would've been very hard to survive, and we put

that in our bulletins asur main communication mechanism afterwards to make that really clear. raymond: the whole area where tourists walk when they visit the island was inundated with the deposits of that explosive eruption. and that, of course, should immediately have raised an alert that it's a dangerous place to allow people to walk. my personal point of view is, they should have stopped tourist activities, particularly in terms of landing on the island. stephanie: late last year, the volcanicctivity on the island increased. on december 3, the government body that monitors white island said, "the volcano may be entering a period where eruptive activity is more likely than normal." graham: we had raised the alert level level t. that's the hhest lev it can be at when it's not erupting.

that's because we could see tremor in the volcano increasing over those months. we could also see some increases in that gas that we're monitoring at the volcano, indicating that the unrest was up. raymond: level two doesn't necessarily indicate that you will, therefore, get an explosive eruption. you often do, because things escalate, but sometimes everything settles down and remains at level two. tom: we've gone out there before on a level two plenty of times, and it's done nothing. that would quite often change from a level two to a level one. but a level two and a level one is-- it's more dangerous driving on a road, probably, than being out there, you know? stephanie: do you think if gavihad known that there was a level two risk, he wouldn't have gone? brian: i'm pretty well sure he wouldn't have. i'm almost certain, because he uldn't have wanted to risk zoe and lisa to any danger, let alone himself.

so, i'm quite sure thatif t, he wouldn't have gone. stephanie: on the morning of december 9, several tour groups were heading to white island. new zealand residents geoff hopkins and his daughter lillani drove to whakatane, the launch point for tours to the volcano. geoff: we were really excited about going. we knew that we had a great day ahead of ourselves, and we were really looking forward to it. lillani hopkins: it was something i've always been real interested in, and dad went when he was a lot younger, so it was, for me, somethinthat was real cool for us to do together. stephanie: their trip, due to leave at 10 a.m., was run by a well-known group called white island tours, which was the only operator taking people to the island by boat. geoff: we checked in, read a disclaimer, signed in, gave our next of kin details, et cetera,

received a boarding pass, which was a metal cone, and then from there, just crossed the road and waited by the boat for the crew to start loading. stephanie: geoff and lillani can be seen here on the wharf, waiting to get on the white island tours boat, the phoenix. the video was filmed by brazilian tourist allessandro kauffmann. allessandro kauffmann: yeah, we just take the camera and just film everything, you know, like a blog or a vlog, and like this. female: morning, thanks, guys. male: morning. stephanie: allessandro was on the tour with his wife, aline. aline: yeah, it was, like, just excitement to get there and to see, like, how it is.

allessandro: we can see the white island so far as well. it's huge, it's amazing. male: you can see what we are going to do next, we're going to pull up alongside that old jetty there. lillani: when we first got on the island there was a brief safety briefing, and it was very, very brief. it was just, you know, "don't touch anything, don't take anything, stay on the path, and stay in between the tour guides." that was kind of about it. stepnie: what were y told about what to do in the event of an eruption? geoff: there was no safety briefing about what to do in an eruption. lillani and i talked with the guide a ttle while later, as we were on our tour. then we talked a little bit about eruptions and what to do in eruptions. so, it wasn't to the group, it was just between

the three of us. stephanie: had they explained to you at all what to do if there was some sort of incident like an eruption? aline: i don't really remember that, so i don't remember an explanation about it. stephanie: allessandro kept filming as the tour guide warned about getting too close to the steam. male: it is about 100 degrees to well over 300. so, it does get very hot. photo opportunity up there as well. you'll notice there's an area where there's a bit of bubbling water. please don't go too close to it as it is undercut, not quite sure where it sort of ends up under our feet and you may need to use your mask up there, okay? now if you do get engulfed by the steam just basically turn your back to it and if you need to you can just crouch down. geoff: the tour really just kinda took us up on a meandering path up to the crater, past various sulfur deposits

and vents, et cetera. it's very rugged and gray, as rocks are, but then that's intermingled with the beautiful yellows of sulfur crystals, whites, and then some of the streams that have got green and brown and red algae. stephanie: the walking track crossed a shallow creek. male: oh it's hot! stephanie: the group hiked towards the crater lake, the highlight of the tour, right in the center of the island. geoff: we talked about the crater lake. it's not excessively hot but highly acidic. and it was always steaming, but there was a bit of wind about, and as the wind blew the steam, every now and again you cod get a glimpse of the lake. stephanie: did you feel at any point like there was a risk

that the volcano could erupt? allessandro: yeah, sure, i think all the time, all the time i think in-- there's risk, you know? but you have a risk about everything, you know, when walk to the street or when you take your car to go somewhere. everything, you've got a risk. stephanie: while they were there, lilni photographed a helicopter run by volcanic air landing on thesland with a pilot and four passengers. as their group made its way back to the boat, they passed the ruins of an old sulfur factory, and allessandro checked his watch. it was 11 minutes to 2:00, 22 minutes before the eruption. geoff: we weren't in any hurry to get back onto the boat. people had started to load on the inflatable. we knew there was another tour on the island because their boat

was anchored in the bay as well. [allessandro speaking foreign language] stephanie: as allessandro headed back to the jetty, he filmed another white island tours boat anchored in the bay. it had brought 38 passengers from the ovation of the seas, including gavin dallow, his wife lisa, and her daughter zoe. among their tour guides were tipene maangi, kelsey waghorn, and hayden marshall-inman. mark inman: he'd been with white island tours 10 years, and he started as a guide. and he enjoyed people, his passion for people was huge, and his passion for the outdoors and the ocean was massive, so for him to fit into a job where he could get all of the above--like, the perfect opportunitfor him. stephanie: as the group from the phoenix left the island they took some final photos looking up towards the crater lake. geoff: at one point the captain said over the tannoy,

"if you look in the distance, right against the steam cloud of the crater lake, you can see some dots," and those dots were the other tour party. so he pointed them out-- there were people up there on the crater lake. raymond: what's uniquebout th crater is that it's an amphitheater-shaped crater with very steep sides, so you're totally enclosed within a confined space with nowhere to escape should an event suddenly occur. stephanie: at 11 minutes past 2:00, the phoenix and its passengers were about to head back to the mainland when the volcano erupted. male: oh my god! oh my god! geoff: as i turned around, i could see over the top of the canopy, as i looked up, just this enormous cloud of black and bright white steam and ash. quite beautiful but just towering, i don't know,

a few hundred meters up into the sky, and instantly i knew it was erupting, but it-- just in that second, the was just something that was que beautiful about it. stephanie: these first pictures were filmed by the passengers as their boat headed away from the island. graham: the eruption was short, it only lasted a minute or two. it was a steam eruption. a key thing with these steam eruptions is they're unpredictable. it generated a column of ash and hot water and steam straight up, and then led into a surge of hot steam and ash moving outwards across the ground. it also looks like it had some flying rocks, some-- what we call "ballistics" coming through the air as well. the system that exploded, the hydrothermal system,

would've been at 200 or 300 degrees or more. raymond: there was no opportunitto provide the tourists with a warning that there was an impending eruption. and given that the debris is flying through the air at speeds of up to 100 meters per second, that means that people would have had no warning, and no opportunity, really, to seek any safety. male: go, go, go, go, go, jesus! stephanie: on the phoenix, awe quickly turned to horror. male: go inside, go inside, go inside, go inside! allessandro: we were outside, like, in the back of the boat, and i just told the people outside, "just go inside," because i know that the clouds come to us.

geoff: there was a rolling ash cloud that came up to the top of the cliff, and as it tumbled over the cliff, and as it tumbled down to the cliff, kind of came out and started to come out to the sea. that completely obscured the whole island. i'd never seen anything like it, but at that point there was definitely a shift of, i guess, shock and horror. allessandro: unbelievable! unbelievable! female: were there people still on the island? male: yeah, there were. allessandr jesus. [speaking foreign language] geoff: everybody sat down, and i think at that stage was when reality was really kicking in, that we knew there were other people on the island.

stephanie: 47 people, including 38 passengers from the ovation of the seas, were still on the island. after escaping the ash cloud, the captain of the phoenix turned back to the jetty to help. allessandro: look at the boat! oh no, oh-- oh my god. geoff: the island was now just monotone gray. there was no color to it at all. it was if someone had taken a can of undercoat spray and just sprayed everything. the other tour group's boat that was anchored-- again, was completely, and perfectly evenly, covered in ash. female: oh my god. somebody laying in the water. male: holy crap, man. female: they're just covered in, like, ash. geoff: the first thing i could see was one person in the water swimming out to that boat. and then i could see another person swimming,

and then i saw a third person. and then i could see others that were gathered around the jetty where we'd gone on and off from where we'd landed on the island. male: look at the helicopter. female: oh my god, the helicopter there. stephanie: the next thing they saw was the mangled volcanic air helicopter that had been blown off its landing pad. geoff: the helicopter was just looking crippled with its broken rotors. and at that stage, the crew had lowered the inflatable boat and they'd started a rescue mission to pick people up. lillani: one of the tour guides that i had spoken quite closely with-- she came in to get some first aid kits. and me and dad went up and asked her if she needed help, because we both have our first aid certificates. and she said that she needed all the help she can get, she's got multip burn victims.

stephanie: as injured survivors were brought onto the phoenix, the crew asked passengers not to film. aline: when the first people got to the boat, like, most of them was really, really hurt. we start to help them to clean that ash, and they were feeling pain, much pain. some people was quiet, very quiet, some people was screaming, some people was crying. [helicopter rotors] geoff: first thing that i saw was a survivor came on the back of the boat, and she was just, like, burnt like i've never en burns before. some were just in t-shirts and shorts, so the whole arms were burnt, or their legs were burnt.

and really, all we could do was just try and cool them with fresh water. [helicopter rotors] lillani: a lot of them had lost skin, so, put clothing over it to act as skin, and then we pour water onto that clothing. and then once we had, i guess, cooled people's burns, i cleared eyes and airways. peoplead ash in their mouths. it was a case of keeping people from going in and out of consciousness, ople going in shock. stephanie: one of the first people brought on board was kelsey waghorn, the white island tours guide, who survived with terrible burns. lillani: she had severe burns to her hands, her arms, her legs, due to, i guess, her clothing. quite a few people that had very, i guess, protective clothing on were mostly just burnt on their faces and their hands, which were not as severe as those that had burns

over their whole body. the most severe burns were ones that had no skin left. it would just kind of-- dripped off themike wax. and that's something that i never thought i'd ever see, and something i hope i never have to see again. stephanie: with more than 20 victims loaded on board, the phoenix quickly became crowded. geoff: i ended up at the front of the boat with six of the most critical. and these were laid out on the floor, in and out of consciousness, eyes shut, not really making any sound at all, as opposed to, i guess, the ones at the back, which were more screaming, crying. and there was a real mixture in there. stephanie: geoff was on the front of the boat with american lauren urey. she was on her honeymoon with her husband matthew. they were both seriously injured but survived. geoff: she was in so much pain.

she was burnt pretty much across most of her body. she was then starting to drift in and out of consciousness. she really became my sole focus. she asked me not to leave her, and i promised i wouldn't, and that became--i wasn't going to break that promise. she asked me not to leave her, and that's where i stayed. aline: there were the moments that everyone was feeling so cold. i gave all of the clothes, the tops, the jackets we could to keep them warm, but there was a moment that it wasn't enough, it wasn't enough. they were feeling so cold, they were losing temperature. so what we could do was hug them, trying to warm up with hold the arms and their body. and i think it may make them alive maybe.

stephanie: another victim brought onto the phoenix was 72-year-old australian man john cozad, who had been on the volcano tour with his son chris. aline: i remember this elderly guy, and he was really worried with his son. he was the person i was most worried about. and he was feeling cold, and he was starting to get purple and really, really quiet. i was so worried, i just hug him and gave him what i could do in that moment till we got the coast. i did it, and i saw after he was coming back, his color. i think it helped. stephanie: john survived, but his son chris died later in hospital. aline: it seemed like eternity to get the coast again

because it was really far. the island's far from the coast. stephanie: people on the mainland saw the eruption, but they had no idea the horror that was unfolding. tour guide hayden marshall-inman's brother mark could see the volcano from his home. mark: i think the first contact i had was from my wife, and she could see some smoke. she said, "what's going on? is that white island?" i said, "what do you mean?" she said, "i can see smoke. is that white?" and i said, "oh, i'm going to have a quick look." i made a few phone calls, firstly to my dad, and he's, "did hayden go to work today?" was one of the first things, you know? when we both couldn't get hold of him, we just made the assumption that he had gone, which he had. he'd gone as a guide rather than a skipper this day. stephanie: as news of the eruption spread, a group of helicopter pilots who regularly took visitors

to white island launched a remarkable rescue operation. tom: it was about quarter past 2:00. my phone rang and another pilot, luke lamont, who works out at kahu, rung me and said the island looked like it was blowing up. i didn't know if anyone was on the island. i just decided i was going to be more help back at the hangar if there was anything i could do to help. [helicopter rotors] stephanie: tom's boss, mark law, jumped in one helicopter. tom and another pilot, jason hill, got into another. tom: we were just going there hoping that we're going to find everyone taking photos of it, safe and sound. stephanie: in nearby rotorua, volcanic air pilot tim barrow was in his hangar when he heard about the eruption.

tim: i grabbed the first aircraft that was ready to fly, basically, and one of my guys, and we got airborne. there was no second-guessing, no hesitation. it was as simple as going and getting the job done to the best of our ability. stephanie: they didn't know it as they flew out there, but there were 20 people still on the island some badly injured, others already dead. tim: i suppose my first recollection was the view that i got from the advantage of being high, you know, being able to look down into the crater and seeing the steam and the ash. tom: we landed behind that helicopter that was blown off the pad. it was at that point there that me and jase looked at each other and realized that must've been quite a gnificant force to push that helicopter off that pad that far and do the damage that it had done. so that was really when it hit that, yeah, this has been quite a serious ent.