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New Zealand police plan to recover bodies from volcanic island on Friday

News Service
09:49 - 12/12/2019 Thursday
REUTERS
Aa aerial view of the Whakaari, also known as White Island volcano, as seen from Ohope beach in Whakatane, New Zealand
Aa aerial view of the Whakaari, also known as White Island volcano, as seen from Ohope beach in Whakatane, New Zealand

BURN INJURIES

Many of the injured are being treated for severe burns, and medical officials are importing some 1.2 million square cm (186,000 square inches) of skin. The amount of skin needed equates to about 60 donors. In New Zealand, only five to 10 people donate skin each year, the New Zealand Herald reported.

Teams of surgeons in several burns units around the country were working around the clock.

"What we faced on Monday was beyond comprehension," Dr Heike Hundemer, clinical leader at Whakatane hospital, said at a media conference on Wednesday.

"I've worked in major centres in Germany as well as in New Zealand. I've never seen this number of critically injured patients coming into an emergency department in a short space of time," said Hundemer.

"We used every single bedspace, every single resource we had to care for those people. Those patients we treated and comforted will forever stay in our minds."

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said medical teams had transported five Australians back home for treatment. Another seven Australians would be evacuated over the next 24 hours and one citizen would remain in a New Zealand hospital.

Morrison said 11 Australians had died, a figure that is believed to be drawn from the 16 people officially listed dead and missing by New Zealand. Further, he said two permanent residents of Australia had died, one was missing and a fourth was hospitalised.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said there will be an inquiry into the tragedy, which will also look more broadly at issues including access to volcanic sites across New Zealand.

Daily tours bring more than 10,000 visitors to privately owned White Island every year, marketed as "the world's most accessible active marine volcano".

Royal Caribbean cruise lines has said that passengers from its ship 'Ovation of the Seas' were on the island at the time. It said it grieved "this tragic loss" and would continue to offer support and services to affected families.

The 'Ovation of the Seas' docked in Wellington on Thursday.

#New Zealand
#volcano
#White Island
4 years ago