people have been transported to wha katane hospital, injured people have been transported to whakatane hospitalices are working to ensure the safety of everyone involved including rescue staff. we are working at a pace to confirm the numbers of these involved stopping at this stage, there are two dangers for police and rescue services to go to the island. however, we continue to the island. however, we continue to assess the conditions which would allow us to go onto the island. the island is currently covered in ash and volcanic material. we are taking expert advice with regards to the safety of any rescue attempt. we will provide more details as they come to hand. thank you. happy to ta ke come to hand. thank you. happy to take any questions? when police and rescue services might be able to reach the island 7 rescue services might be able to reach the island? we are taking advice on that, we are assessing it currently, so i can't say exactly when, but we know the urgency to go back to the island. how many people do you think are still on the island? what i can say is there have been 23 taken

we now know that three people were treated, then released from whakatane hospital here. e with more severe burns and critical conditions have been transferred to specialist hospitals across the country. we also know that five of those initially rescued died from their injuries. a monitoring camera filmed a group of people at the rim of the volcano moments before the eruption. then it went black, raising questions about why tourists were allowed near the area in such hazardous conditions. about three weeks ago we raised the alert level to indicate that there were signs of increased unrest, and, therefore, a slightly higher probability of an eruption. but, really, that goes down to the tourist operators who inform the tourists and decide whether or not they should go or not. police say the situation on the island is still dangerous and unstable for rescuers to go in. they've confirmed that there is no sign of life there at the moment and that whoever is still on the island has not survived. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, whakatane. the leaders of ukraine and russia have declared

a number of injured people have been transported to whakatane hospital and middlemore hospital.e said there was, i know they will be a huge amount of concern and anxiety for those who have loved ones of the island stop she can assure them that police are doing everything they can. we know that 23 people have been rescued. 0ne confirmed dead so far as we were hearing from that press co nfe re nce , far as we were hearing from that press conference, the number is expected to rise there had been pictures of people on the crater rim on the island just before the explosion took place. some pictures taken by explosion took place. some pictures ta ken by people explosion took place. some pictures taken by people in a boat going away from the island. 0bviously lots of people, lots of our viewers this morning as well, saying that you have been there, you have visited. if there are signs on the island telling you to stay away from thin crust around that crater rim so many people and many of our viewers have been there this morning and if you do, if you are one of those people watching and

in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, the small hospital at whakatane was overrun with burns victimsl the burns. what i experienced l three days was devastating. at the heart of a hospital are a people. they all goes to the needs of our community and burnt beyond what was anyone's expectation. for many of us, it feels so real. everyone deals with tragic event in their own way, and many of us are still coming to terms with what happened. our thoughts are with what happened. our thoughts are with the victims, who remain in hospital, those that sadly didn't survive, and their families and theirfriends. many of those visiting the island were from australia. some of the injured have begun to return home on special air ambulance flights, so they can be treated at burns units in australia — you can see here one of the victims being loaded into a plane. the australian prime minister, scott morrison, has tweeted. .. the bbc‘s shaimaa khalil is in wha katane. the recovery operation started at first light here, and the aim of the military personnel going and if there is to go in, recover those

hospital, many with severe burns. shaimaa khalil is in the nearby town of thatane. shaimaa khalil is in the nearby town of whakatane.nother planet. this is white island hours after its devastating eruption. it's dangerous for this rescue helicopter and for those still looking for survivors. officials have said there is a 50% chance of another volcanic blast in the next 2a hours. eight bodies remain buried on this ash—covered rock. one of the paramedics who originally helped move the injured to safety described the scene. it was quite a, um, it was quite an experience. it was like, i've seen the chernobyl miniseries and there was just — everything was blanketed in ash. it was quite a...it was quite an overwhelming feeling. mary scully lives close to the whakatane harbour. she's been on a trip to the volcano and white island with a local guide, who is also a family friend. hayden marshall—inman was on the island when the volcano erupted. he died of his injuries. he's a lovely guy, hayden. we've known hayden since he was primary school age. going through the swimming club and soccer and all the things kids do — he's th

whakatane. in swansea, seven people have been hurt after a double—decker bus crashed into a railway bridge. one person was taken to hospitales. david grundy from bbc wales is at the scene for us and sent us this update. now, this bus service was taking students from one end of swansea to the other, part of the university campus bus service and the park—and—ride route is just around the corner. it struck the rail bridge around 940 this morning, eight people were injured. two were taken to the minor injuries unit but one that had what has been described as life—threatening injuries has been airlifted to the university hospital of wales for treatment. eyewitnesses described seeing the rich come to the top deck of the bus before loud crunching noises were heard. half the roof was torn off. a number of people have been taking to a nearby social club to be treated for shock. it took several hours to get eve ryo ne it took several hours to get everyone off the bus and the bus was only moved from here at around for a pm. the bus company says it is shocked and its sympathies and thoughts are with those affected but it is not just t