New Zealand: Victims of the Whakaari White Island volcanic eruption awarded, court rules

A volcanic eruption in December 2019 on the privately owned Whakaari Island killed 22 people, including 17 Australians.

Survivors and families of those affected by the 2019 Whakaari White Island incident have received $NZ 10 million.

In December 2019, a volcanic eruption on the privately owned Whakaari Island killed 22 individuals, 17 of them were Australian.

In court, Judge Evangelos Thomas stated that 22 persons died on the island, while the remaining 25 were severely injured.The agony of those who remain has been immense."

Thomas said that the operators had breached their "blatantly fundamental" duties to tourists and personnel to analyse the risk of an eruption.

According to Justice Thomas, failure "compromised everything else they did," and "exposed others to the risk of serious injury and death."

On March 1, 2024, tour operators and the island's owners were awarded compensation and fines in an Auckland court, bringing a long-running legal dispute to an end.

On the day of the eruption, a group of tourism operators and Whakaari owners failed to fulfil their health and safety requirements.

Last year, an Auckland court decided in favour of the organisation. It discovered that the island owners, Whakaari Management Limited, did not appropriately examine the risks to tourists from a potential eruption on the island. The operators were sentenced this week.

The ruling issued on Friday, January 1st imposed fines on a number of tourism operators ranging from $54,000 to $4.8 million.

Some of the sanctions include compensation payments to victims and their families.

The majority will be sponsored by WML owners and White Island Tours, a firm that provided walking tours on the day of the eruption. The helicopter operators will also contribute to the repairs.

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