Three Brits missing feared dead on New Zealand volcano

Three British nationals are among those still missing after a volcano erupted in New Zealand, in which five people are confirmed to have been killed.

The huge eruption on White Island New Zealand, struck at 2.11pm local time, leaving dozens of tourists with severe burns and more than 20 still unaccounted for.

Police as well as search and rescue teams say they do not expect to find any more survivors from the volcanic eruption, which sent plumes of ash thousands of feet into the air.

Dangerous conditions have also meant that rescuers have been unable to reach the White Island.

About 50 people, including tourists and New Zealanders, are believed to have been nearby at the time of the eruption.

Rescue helicopters and other aircraft had carried out a number of aerial reconnaissance flights over the island but a police spokesman said: ‘No signs of life have been seen at any point’.

They  added: ‘Police believe that anyone who could have been taken from the island alive was rescued at the time of the evacuation.’

Tour operators took some people off the island before it was declared unsafe.

Twenty-three people were rescued, police confirmed.

Authorities say a ship will approach the island at first light on Tuesday to further ‘assess the environment’.

Many day tours visit the island regularly. One from a 16-deck cruise liner, Ovation of the Seas, was there at the time.

St. John Ambulance said up to 20 people were believed to have been injured in the eruption, adding that a mobile triage unit was on its way.

Several people with burn injuries were brought by helicopter to Whakatane, the nearest town on the mainland.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told a news conference: ‘I know there will be a huge amount of concern and anxiety for those who had loved ones on or around the island at the time.

‘I can assure them that police are doing everything they can.’

Michael Schade, an engineering manager from San Francisco, was one of the tourists who made it off the island just before the eruption.

In a video posted on Twitter he said: ‘This is so hard to believe.

‘Our whole tour group were literally standing at the edge of the main crater not 30 minutes before.’

Ray Cas, a professor emeritus at Monash University, told the Australian Science Media Centre:  ‘White Island has been a disaster waiting to happen for many years.

‘Having visited it twice, I have always felt that it was too dangerous to allow the daily tour groups that visit the uninhabited island volcano by boat and helicopter.’

Geological hazard tracker GeoNet raised the alert level for the White Island volcano in November due to an increase in volcanic activity.