In one of the most emotional moments to come out of the horrific White Island volcano tragedy, dozens of locals have cried as they performed a dawn haka.
Before first light on Friday, vessels from the navy and White Island Tours headed out to sea to support the high-risk operation.Grieving family members were taken in a commercial boat on the perimeter of the exclusion zone, while other families waited back on the shore.New Zealand Police Deputy Commissioner Mike Clement was at the wharf alongside health workers and the emotional family members.
Eight people had to be left on the island on Tuesday as people rushed to get away from the falling clouds of ash. The final two bodies, which New Zealand authorities were forced to leave after their mission took “longer than expected”, are likely the two White Island tour guides, Hayden Marshall-Inman and Tipene Maangi.he didn’t want to be anywhere else today, as the shoreline is where he feels closest to his son.Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said New Zealand authorities would return to retrieve the two remaining bodies on White Island as soon as it was safe to do so.
“Due to the circumstances, limitations of equipment and the need to complete the operation within a particular period of time, the New Zealand authorities have indicated they will return as soon as it is possible to do so to endeavour to retrieve others who remain on the island,” she said.
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