Judge awards $6.2 million to volcano victims in New Zealand

More than four years after dozens of people were injured or killed in a devastating volcanic eruption on White Island, off the coast of New Zealand’s North Island, victims and their families have been awarded a total of about 10.2 million New Zealand dollars, or about $6.2. million.

Speaking in the Auckland District Court on Friday, Judge Evangelos Thomas ordered that reparations to the victims be paid by three New Zealand tourism companies: White Island Tours, helicopter company Volcanic Air Safaris and Whakaari Management Limited, which owns the island.

“I accept an individual general amount of 250,000 New Zealand dollars,” or about $150,000 per person, Judge Thomas said. That figure could be adjusted for those who had experienced particular hardship, he added, including children who had lost their parents.

“Recovery cannot be more than a symbolic acknowledgment of the emotional damage,” he added.

It comes after Judge Thomas ruled in October that Whakaari management had broken a law requiring it to ensure those visiting the active volcano, also known by its Maori name Whakaari, were not endangered. The company had not made sufficient efforts to carry out risk assessments or to engage experts for this purpose minimize the potential danger to touristshe said at the time.

The Vulcano burst out on December 9, 2019, killing 22 people and injuring 25 others, all of whom were part of tour groups as members or guides. Seventeen of those who died were Australian citizens.

Witnesses at the time described the eruption as “an atomic bomb going off,” according to RNZ, the country’s national broadcaster.

WorkSafe, a New Zealand government regulator, later charged 13 organizations and individuals with failing to meet workplace health and safety obligations to prevent risks. All of these companies were later convicted of health and safety failings, but only the three companies named by Judge Thomas were ordered to pay reparations.

In a statement after the sentencing, WorkSafe chief executive Steve Haszard said the events had changed “our national understanding” of companies’ demands to protect people.

“Whakaari is a catastrophic example of what can go wrong if they don’t,” he said, adding: “People trust the companies involved in these trips. But they were not properly informed about the risks and they were not kept safe.”