US couple gives evidence to New Zealand court in case against island’s owners and tourism operators

An American couple who were badly burned when Whakaari/White Island erupted in December 2019, killing 22 of the 47 people in its crater, told a New Zealand court that neither their guides nor anyone else involved in their trip to the crater told them that such an event was likely – or even possible. Information about the dangers they faced on the island volcano was minimal, they said, and safety protections lax.

Evidence from Matthew Urey, 40, and Lauren Urey, 36, opened the prosecution’s case in the Auckland district court on Wednesday, beginning a lengthy trial for the island’s owners and other tourism companies involved in the ill-fated trip.

Two years ago New Zealand’s Whakaari volcano eruption killed 22 people and changed the lives of many others forever

On a pristine day two years ago, a group of mostly international day-trippers boarded boats and chugged over to Whakaari/White Island, a small active volcano and popular tourist destination 48km off New Zealand’s east coast. The guests roamed the moon-like landscape, observing the strangeness of a bubbling, living rock. But below the surface, pressure was building.

At 2.11pm, while 47 people were on the island, the volcano erupted, spewing a mushroom cloud of steam, gases, rock and ash into the air. The eruption killed 22 people, seriously injured 25 and changed the lives of many families forever. It became the country’s deadliest volcanic disaster since the 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera.