New Zealand prosecutor alleges tourists were not warned before volcano eruption

Plumes of steam rise above White Island off the coast of Whakatane, New Zealand after the eruption (Mark Baker/PA)

Tourists received no health and safety warnings before they landed on New Zealand’s most active volcano ahead of a 2019 eruption that killed 22 people, a prosecutor said.

There were 47 people on White Island, the tip of an undersea volcano also known by its indigenous Maori name Whakaari, when superheated steam erupted on December 9. Most of the 25 people who survived were severely burned.