Photos and videos show the huge volcanic eruption in New Zealand which killed at least 5 people
by Will Martin
- Photos and videos show a volcano in New Zealand erupting Monday. The blast has killed at least five people.
- Videos posted to Twitter show tourists on boats speeding away from White Island while smoke billows into the sky from the eruption.
- The volcano is a popular tourist destination. There were around 100 people on the island at the time of the eruption, according to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Shocking pictures and videos show the minutes after a volcano in New Zealand erupted Monday, killing at least five and injuring many more.
According to New Zealand’s geological monitoring agency, GeoNet, the White Island volcano, also known as Whakaari, erupted around 2:11 p.m. local time, blasting a huge plume of smoke into the sky.
The volcano is a popular tourist destination and there were around 100 people on the island at the time of the eruption, according to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, the New Zealand Herald reported. Police had previously said around 50 people were on the island at the time.
Tourists posted pictures and videos of the eruption to social media, which can be seen below:
The eruption occurred at Whakaari, also known as White Island, which is located about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the east coast of country’s North Island.
As the island is popular tourist attraction, large numbers of photographs and videos have emerged from the disaster. The picture below, taken by tourist Michael Schade, shows the volcano billowing smoke into the sky.
As the eruption began, tourists and guides fled the island on boats.
A huge cloud of smoke can be seen filling the air in this picture, posted to Twitter by Schade.
Videos posted to Twitter show boats speeding away from the island while crews tell passengers to leave the deck and go into the boat’s cabin.
In the video below, also posted by Schade, a person can be heard exclaiming “No, no, no!”
(Contrary to Schade’s post, the volcano also erupted in 2016.)
In another video, tourists can be seen waiting on a dock on the island, while the volcano erupts in the background.
People injured by the eruption were ferried to tourist vessels by rigid inflatable boats like the one pictured below.
Some were flown back to the mainland in helicopters.
In this photograph, a helicopter can be see waiting on the island, it appears to be covered in volcanic ash.
TV footage taken in the mainland town of Whakatane showed people injured by the eruption being loaded into ambulances. Whakatane is a key port of departure for trips to the White Island.
The smoke cloud caused by the eruption is so big that it could be seen from the mainland, around 30 miles away. This picture was taken on Ohope Beach, close to Whakatane.
By dusk, steam and smoke could still be seen coming from the volcano from the mainland.
