WELLINGTON: Victims of the Whakaari White Island eruption and their families have been awarded more than NZ$10 million (US$6 million) in reparations, a judge ruled on Friday, reported German news agency (dpa).
There were 47 people sightseeing on the privately owned island when the volcano erupted in December 2019. Twenty-two people were killed and 25 were injured.
In the Auckland District Court, Judge Evangelos Thomas sentenced five companies that took tourists to the island before the fatal eruption.
The island’s owner, Whakaari Management, was ordered to pay US$4.88 million in reparations to all of the victims and their families.
White Island Tours, which took visitors via boat to the island, was ordered to pay US$5 million in reparations.
Helicopter operator Volcanic Air Safaris was ordered to pay US$330,000 in reparations.
All three companies were also fined.
Two other operators, Aerius and Kahu NZ, were fined but not ordered to pay reparations. GNS Science, a Crown Research Institute, was also fined in a separate sentencing on Friday.
Thomas said he had heard from many survivors and families grieving the loss of their loved ones.
“Very few managed to escape the eruption without any serious injury. For the remainder, the suffering has been immense,“ he said during sentencing.
“There is no way to measure the emotional harm survivors and affected families have endured and will continue to endure. Reparation in a case like this can be no more than token recognition of that harm.”
White Island, New Zealand’s most active volcano, lies 48 km offshore from Whakatane, on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island.
A 64-year-old German man died in July 2020 from medical complications while receiving treatment for injuries he sustained during the eruption. Three other German tourists were injured in the eruption.
