New Zealand volcano explosion leaves American couple with severe burns, death toll rises to 6 - Fox News

An American couple spending their honeymoon on a cruise in New Zealand are among those who were seriously burned when a volcano erupted on an island filled with tourists on Monday, as the death toll keeps rising.

The New Zealand police said in a press release late Tuesday that a person who was being treated at the Middlemore Hospital after the White Island eruption has died, bringing the official death toll to six.

White Island sits about 30 miles offshore from mainland New Zealand and experts say it's the country's most active cone volcano, with about 70 percent of the volcano lying under the sea.

"Police remain focused on supporting families at this terrible time," the force said.

NEW ZEALAND VOLCANO ERUPTION LEAVES 'NO SIGNS OF LIFE' ON ISLAND

The New Zealand Police said that there were 47 people on the island at the time of the eruption, including 24 people from Australia, nine from the U.S., two from China, four from Germany, five people from New Zealand, two from the United Kingdom, and one person from Malaysia. Many were passengers aboard the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Ovation of the Seas.

Eight people who were reported missing are presumed dead, and bodies of the deceased are being transported to Auckland.

This Dec. 9, 2019, photo provided by Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust shows ash-covered White Island, New Zealand, following the eruption of the volcano. (Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust via AP)

"We are working to confirm the identities of those involved, including those who have died and who are injured," police said, adding, "The nature of the injuries that people have suffered is severe and means identifying them is a complex matter."

Among the injured are American couple Matthew and Lauren Urey, from Richmond, Va., who were spending their honeymoon in New Zealand.

They spoke to family members just before heading to the island.

“She said they were going to the volcano,” Lauren’s mother, Barbara Barham, told The Washington Post. “My husband was joking around and said, ‘I hope it’s not a live volcano.’"

Matthew and Lauren Urey from Richmond, Va., sustained serious burns in the volcano eruption on Monday. (Facebook)

Relatives told WTVR-TV that Matthew left his family a voicemail informing them he and his wife were badly burned, and they were later contacted by Royal Caribbean.

Matthew sustained burns to around 80 percent of his body, while Lauren suffered burns to about 25 percent of her body and is facing surgery, family members told the television station. The family is now on the way to New Zealand to be with the "sweet couple."

Sylvain Plasse, a passenger on the Ovation of the Seas, said he saw the couple the night before in the cruise concierge lounge.

"It was his first cruise and it sounded like she had done a few and she said 'we're on our honeymoon and so we're going to do an excursion at every port stop'. And I mentioned to them this was my 105th cruise on Royals so we started talking, conversing and I didn't see them in the lounge last night and there were rumors that there were honeymoon couples on the island and you just showed me one of the news footage with their picture of their wedding and it confirmed that it was them," Plasse told New Zealand media. "You never know, your life changes in a moment so, life is short."

About 30 of the survivors remained hospitalized on Tuesday, many flown to burn units around the country. The first confirmed death was of a local man, Hayden Marshall-Inman, a guide who had shown tourists around the island.

Hayden Marshall-Inman, a guide who had shown tourists around the island, was the first confirmed death. (Facebook)

Former Whakatane Mayor Tony Bonne said Marshall-Inman was a keen fisherman and well-liked. He was so kind, Bonne said, that he would often leave extra money at the grocery store for those he knew were struggling to pay.

Marshall-Inman's brother, who didn't want to be named, told the New Zealand Herland "he died doing what he loved."

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said 11 Australians are unaccounted for and 13 were hospitalized. Three Australians were suspected to be among the initial five confirmed dead, he told reporters in Sydney. “I fear there is worse news to come,” Morrison said.

NEW ZEALAND VOLCANO ERUPTS, AT LEAST 5 DEAD, RESCUERS CAN'T ACCESS ISLAND

New Zealand's GeoNet seismic monitoring agency had raised the volcano's alert level on Nov. 18 from 1 to 2 on a scale where 5 represents a major eruption, noting an increase in sulfur dioxide gas, which originates from magma. It also said volcanic tremors had increased from weak to moderate strength. It raised the alert level to 4 for a time after Monday's eruption but lowered it to 3 as the activity subsided.

New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, right, talks with first responders in Whakatane, New Zealand, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019. (Dom Thomas/Pool Photo via AP)

Many people are now questioning why tourists were still allowed to visit the island after seismic monitoring experts raised the volcano's alert level last month.

“These questions must be asked and they must be answered,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in Parliament.

New Zealand's Deputy Police Commissioner John Tims said Tuesday that police were opening a criminal investigation into the deaths that would accompany an investigation by health and safety regulators.

In this Monday, Dec. 9, 2019, photo provided by Michael Schade, tourists on a boat look at the eruption of the volcano on White Island, New Zealand. (Michael Schade via AP)

But hours later, police put out a statement saying that while they were investigating the deaths on behalf of the coroner, “To correct an earlier statement, it is too early to confirm whether there will also be a criminal investigation.”

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A few locals laid flowers Tuesday at a fence on the waterfront near where the rescue boats had returned with the injured.

Flowers are laid on makeshift memorial is seen in front of cruise ship Ovation of the Seas, in Tauranga, New Zealand, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)

White Island, also known by the indigenous Maori name Whakaari, is the tip of an undersea volcano about 30 miles off New Zealand's main North Island.

At least 10 people were killed on the island in 1914 when it was being mined for sulfur. Part of a crater wall collapsed and a landslide destroyed the miners' village and the mine itself. The island became a private scenic reserve in 1953, and daily tours allow more than 10,000 people to visit every year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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2019-12-10 13:33:20Z
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Gunman shoots six dead at Czech hospital before killing himself - CNN

One of the victims was shot in an operating theater and later died. The head of the hospital, Jiří Havrlant, told reporters outside the hospital that all of the victims were patients, and that the suspect was shooting people at close range in their heads and chests.

The incident happened just after 7 a.m., according to interior minister Jan Hamáček, who added that police and emergency response units were in attendance.

Police said the "dangerous armed perpetrator" who was carrying a "short handgun" had fled the scene in a silver-gray Renault Laguna.

The 42-year-old suspect later shot himself in the head in the vehicle before officers could bring him into custody, police said.

"When the police arrived to the site of the car, the suspect was still alive. After around 30 minutes of resuscitation attempt, he died," interior minister Hamáček said, adding that authorities are investigating the motive behind the shootings.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš described the incident as a "huge tragedy" and "something we are not used to here" in an interview with state broadcaster Czech TV. "We need to find out the motive, these are events that, for us, are completely from a different world."

Police said two of the dead were women and four of them were men, but declined to comment to CNN on the motive for the attack.

"The information from Ostrava university hospital [is] tragic," the country's minister of health, Adam Vojtech, tweeted Tuesday. "I am in touch with the hospital's director and I am following the situation remotely. ... thank you [to] the police and the hospital staff for their work on location."

At least two people who were injured had to undergo surgery, Havrlant told journalists at a Tuesday press conference.

Havrlant said one victim is in a serious condition after having brain surgery, while a second injured person was still being treated.

Gun attacks are rare in the Czech Republic, which has some of the most liberal gun laws in the European Union. In 2017, it filed a lawsuit against a European Union directive for tighter controls on firearms. The case was dismissed by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on December 3.

According to a 2017 report by the Small Arms Survey, there are 806,895 registered firearms in the country that has a population of around 10.5 million people.

Ostrava is an industrial and mining city in the Czech Republic's rust belt, close to the border with Poland.

CNN's Richard Greene contributed to this report.

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2019-12-10 12:38:00Z
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New Zealand volcano remains unstable, stalling recovery efforts - CBS This Morning

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2019-12-10 12:22:38Z
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Gunman shoots six dead at Czech hospital before killing himself - CNN

One of the victims was shot in an operating theater and later died. The head of the hospital, Jiří Havrlant, told reporters outside the hospital that all of the victims were patients, and that the suspect was shooting people at close range in their heads and chests.

The incident happened just after 7 a.m., according to interior minister Jan Hamáček, who added that police and emergency response units were in attendance.

Police said the "dangerous armed perpetrator" who was carrying a "short handgun" had fled the scene in a silver-gray Renault Laguna.

The 42-year-old suspect later shot himself in the head in the vehicle before officers could bring him into custody, police said.

"When the police arrived to the site of the car, the suspect was still alive. After around 30 minutes of resuscitation attempt, he died," interior minister Hamáček said, adding that authorities are investigating the motive behind the shootings.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš described the incident as a "huge tragedy" and "something we are not used to here" in an interview with state broadcaster Czech TV. "We need to find out the motive, these are events that, for us, are completely from a different world."

Police said two of the dead were women and four of them were men, but declined to comment to CNN on the motive for the attack.

"The information from Ostrava university hospital [is] tragic," the country's minister of health, Adam Vojtech, tweeted Tuesday. "I am in touch with the hospital's director and I am following the situation remotely. ... thank you [to] the police and the hospital staff for their work on location."

At least two people who were injured had to undergo surgery, Havrlant told journalists at a Tuesday press conference.

Havrlant said one victim is in a serious condition after having brain surgery, while a second injured person was still being treated.

Gun attacks are rare in the Czech Republic, which has some of the most liberal gun laws in the European Union. In 2017, it filed a lawsuit against a European Union directive for tighter controls on firearms. The case was dismissed by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on December 3.

According to a 2017 report by the Small Arms Survey, there are 806,895 registered firearms in the country that has a population of around 10.5 million people.

Ostrava is an industrial and mining city in the Czech Republic's rust belt, close to the border with Poland.

CNN's Richard Greene contributed to this report.

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2019-12-10 11:27:00Z
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Should tourists have been on New Zealand's volcanic White Island? - CNN

It's a private island around 48 kilometers (30 miles) off the east coast of the country's North Island, and over 10,000 people visit the volcano each year. That's a tiny fragment of the millions of tourists who visited New Zealand in 2019, many of them drawn to the country's famous natural beauty and outdoor pursuits.

But on Monday afternoon, tragedy struck. White Island erupted, killing at least six people and leaving over 20 fighting for their lives.

Scientists have said there were no indications that the volcano was going to erupt, even though volcanic activity was detected in recent weeks. The country's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said "questions must be asked and they must be answered" over the event.

But already, some are asking whether more steps could have been taken to keep tourists safe -- and even whether tourists should have been on the island at all.

"White Island has been a disaster waiting to happen for many years," said Monash University volcanologist Raymond Cas, who has visited the volcano himself. "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."

How New Zealand's warning system works

In the weeks before the eruption, New Zealand volcano monitoring service GeoNet raised the alert level on White Island to level 2.

New Zealand's volcanoes are rated from zero to five, with zero meaning that there is no volcanic unrest, while ratings from three to five mean there is an eruption taking place. A rating of two means that there is low level volcanic activity taking place. GNS said the current system had been in effect since 2014 following "extensive engagement" with stakeholders.

GeoNet's ratings alert levels explain what the likely hazards are, but they don't tell visitors how to act and they don't carry any legal weight. Nor do they offer advice on what actions should be taken -- that's up to those who are visiting the volcano. In the weeks leading up to the eruption, GNS staff visited the island, GNS volcanologist Graham Leonard said.

And there's another problem: volcanoes like White Island can erupt even if they are at level 1.

White Island -- which is called Te Puia o Whakaari or "the dramatic volcano" in Maori -- is privately owned by the Whakaari Trust, and has been in the same family for 80 years after earlier mining operations on the island ended in bankruptcy. Tour operators and individual travelers who want to visit the island need to get permission from the private owners.

On Monday, White Island Tours -- a company based in the nearby beach town of Whakatane -- took 38 tourists from countries around the world to the island on the day of the eruption. Under the company's internal guidelines, it could still take visitors to the island during an alert level 2, said Paul Quinn, the chairman of White Island Tours.

"There was nothing that signaled there was going to be an eruption," he said.

New Zealand police said that 47 people were on the island at the time of eruption. It's believed that over 30 tourists were from the Ovation of the Seas cruise ship, which is owned by Royal Caribbean. Royal Caribbean did not reply to CNN's request for comment on what advice it gave tourists before they went to White Island.

White Island Tours is able to set its own policies on whether it will still go to the island if there are signs of volcanic activity.

But it doesn't have completely free reign. When the company makes its decisions, it also needs to comply with the country's health and safety standards, which are set by government regulator WorkSafe. Under New Zealand's laws, businesses need to ensure any health and safety risks are managed.

CNN asked WorkSafe whether tour groups were complying with health and safety standards by going to an active volcano with a level 2 rating.

WorkSafe did not directly reply to CNN's questions. However, in a statement, it said it had opened a health and safety investigation into the loss of life caused by the eruption. "WorkSafe will be investigating and considering all of the relevant work health and safety issues surrounding this tragic event," the statement said.

On Tuesday, police said they were investigating the circumstances of the deaths and injuries on behalf of the country's coroner. They said it was too early to confirm whether there would also be a criminal investigation.

An island nation on the ring of fire

New Zealand is a country renowned for its natural beauty -- it's a place with soaring, snow-covered mountains, bubbling thermal pools, and vast, clear lakes.

New Zealand Tourism markets the country as an active, adventure holiday destination with magnificent landscapes that is "jam-packed" with things to do.

But it's also a country that straddles two tectonic plates and is on what's known as the "Ring of Fire" -- a trail of volcanoes and earthquake-prone areas around the Pacific Ocean that follow the line of where tectonic plates collide. That's made it prone to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, which in turn have helped create the land formations that the country is so renowned for.

The North Island's Lake Taupo was formed by a volcanic eruption nearly 2,000 years ago. Rotorua's natural hot pools are created by geothermal activity bubbling under the earth. The country's hilly capital, Wellington, is built on an active fault, and its largest city, Auckland, is home to approximately 50 volcanoes -- including some that lie dormant.

Although New Zealand has experienced deadly eruptions and earthquakes -- most recently the 2011 Christchurch quake that killed 185 people -- there have been many events that have not been fatal.

White Island is New Zealand's most active volcano, but the last fatal event on the island was around 100 years ago, when a crater wall collapsed, killing 10 miners.

But for those living in New Zealand, volcanic activity and earthquakes are often a part of life.

"There are many parts of the world that have a similar kind of risk profile both in terms of volcanism and earthquakes -- it's just part of the world we live in," said Auckland University volcanologist Shane Cronin. "(Up until now) I think we've been lucky."

Could more be done?

But while New Zealand has often been fortunate, Monday's eruption shows that when things go wrong, it can be devastating.

That's left some people with questions over what can be done better to prevent similar tragedies in the future.

Monday's eruption shows that volcanic monitoring isn't yet good enough to make experiences like visiting White Island risk free, said volcanologist Cronin.

"Until we get our monitoring systems -- and our understanding of these systems -- right, we probably need to look at whether those near-to-crater operations should carry on like they have been," he said.

But another possible issue is the growth in tourism. In the past 30 years, tourism to White Island has increased steadily, said Peter Buttle, one of the directors of the Whakaari Trust which owns the island.

Local officials said tours to White Island are crucial to the area's economy.

The increase in tourism has, in turn, increased the risk of danger, according to Cronin. "You're increasing your vulnerability by bringing people more frequently," he said.

He said that White Island is a "pretty edgy place" and it was important that New Zealand's risk of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions were clearly communicated to foreign visitors. But ultimately, Cronin thinks tourism is possible on active volcanoes -- he pointed to the flourishing tourism on another of New Zealand's active volcanoes, Mount Ruapehu.

Whakatane mayor Judy Turner said White Island Tours had a great reputation for safety, and noted that tours during a level 2 alert had operated safely in the past.

But Monash University's Cas has a different perspective.

He describes White Island as a place where people are immediately confronted with steam crater lakes and noxious gases -- an active volcano that can have unpredictable and unexpected eruptions, which is remote enough that it's hard to get people off quickly if there is a sudden eruption.

To him, it seems "obviously dangerous" to have large numbers of people wandering around the crater. "I just wouldn't recommend it," he said.

CNN's Isaac Yee and Ben Westcott contributed to this story from Hong Kong. CNN's Bex Wright and journalist Matt McKew contributed to this story from New Zealand.

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2019-12-10 10:45:00Z
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Six people shot dead at Czech hospital, gunman on the run - CNN

One of the victims was shot in an operating theater and later died. The head of the hospital, Jiří Havrlant, told reporters outside the hospital that all of the victims were patients, and that the suspect was shooting people at close range in their heads and chests.

The incident happened just after 7 a.m., according to interior minister Jan Hamáček, who added that police and emergency response units were in attendance.

Police said they were intensively searching for a "dangerous armed perpetrator" who was carrying a "short handgun" and fled the scene in a silver-gray Renault Laguna.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš described the incident as a "huge tragedy" and "something we are not used to here" in an interview with state broadcaster Czech TV. "We need to find out the motive, these are events that, for us, are completely from a different world."

Police said two of the dead were women and four of them were men, but declined to comment to CNN on the motive for the attack.

"The information from Ostrava university hospital [is] tragic," the country's minister of health, Adam Vojtech, tweeted Tuesday. "I am in touch with the hospital's director and I am following the situation remotely. ... thank you [to] the police and the hospital staff for their work on location."

Ostrava is an industrial and mining city in the Czech Republic's rust belt, close to the border with Poland.

This is a breaking story, more to follow...

CNN's Richard Greene contributed to this report.

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2019-12-10 09:37:00Z
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Chilean Air Force plane presumed crashed on its way to Antarctica - CNN

"The plane is presumed to have crashed, given that the amount of fuel and the plane's autonomy had already run out. Given that, it is already assumed that the plane has crashed," said Gen. Francisco Torres in a televised press conference.

The C-130 Hercules aircraft had departed from the Chilean capital of Santiago and stopped briefly in Punta Arenas near the country's southern tip, the Chilean Air Force said in a statement. The four-engine aircraft then continued toward the country's Antarctic base before losing radio contact around 6 p.m. local time near the Drake Passage, the body of water between the tip of South America and Antarctica.

Its last known position was about 390 nautical miles from Punta Arenas and 280 nautical miles from the Antarctic base, according to the Air Force.

There were 17 crew members and 21 other passengers on board, who were on their way to perform "logistical support tasks" such as repairing the floating oil pipeline that provides fuel for the base, said the Air Force.

In addition to crew members, the plane was also carrying personnel from the armed forces, an engineering firm, and the University of Magallanes.

After the plane lost contact, the Air Force declared a state of alert and mobilized a search and rescue team, activating Air Force resources in Santiago and the Magallanes region in southern Chile. President Sebastian Pinera tweeted on Tuesday that he was conferring with security officials in Cerrillos to monitor the rescue operation.

Air and maritime authorities are still searching for survivors in the area of the plane's last known location and informing the families of the passengers on board, the Air Force said.

The C-130 is considered a workhorse of modern militaries around the globe. The four-engine turboprop is used transport troops, equipment and cargo. The planes can carry up to 42,000 pounds of cargo or about 90 combat troops.

The first C-130 Hercules entered into service in the US Air Force in the 1950s. However the more modern "H" and "J" model variants were introduced in the 1970s and 1990s, respectively.

CNN's Joshua Berlinger, Gerardo Lemos, and Taylor Barnes contributed to this report

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2019-12-10 08:48:00Z
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