Each defendant used an active volcano to make money. Whakaari is highly eruptive and has been for centuries, previous eruptions have resulted in fatalities and eruptions are impossible to predict, –Judge Evangelos Thomas.
By Roger Childs
Handling the White Island disaster
More than four years after White Island (a.k.a. Whakaari) eruptions killed 22 and injured 25, the case against five companies has been settled in court. Judge Thomas has ordered that $10 million will be paid out to the victims by defendants Wakaari Management Limited, White Island Tours and Volcanic Air Safaris. Aerius and Kahu New Zealand were also fined.
The December 2019 catastrophe was an accident waiting to happen and because of the blasé attitude and greed of the tour company; lives were lost and many have been scarred. Most people would have expected a Royal Commission to investigate the tragedy, as happened with the Pike River Mine disaster and the shootings at the Christchurch mosques. Instead the government workplace regulator WorkSafe carried out a criminal investigation.
The failure to set up a Royal Commission was one of Jacinda Ardern’s government’s worst decisions. Was the down-grading of the investigatory process because 19 of the fatalities were Australians and Americans? If the dead and injured had been mainly Kiwis would a Royal Commission have been established? (We currently have a Commission looking into people’s Covid-19 experiences.)
A trial lawyer stated than an Inquiry should still be held.
A risk not worth taking
We are world leaders in flaying ourselves after disaster has struck, but we never seem to see them coming. –Journalist Karl du Fresne
A week before the catastrophe a GNS scientist had cautioned that White Island was entering a period where eruptive activity is more likely than normal. On a scale of five the danger level went up from 1 to 2, however the operators say that was still inside their safety guidelines. Nevertheless, that increase put the danger up from 20% to 40% — surely too high to risk lives in a potentially explosive situation?
The failure to heed warnings and naked commercial greed are two of the worst features of the tragedy. Saying sorry after the event rings very hollow.
One of the darkest days in our recent history
Your stories have been heart-breaking but they have also been inspiring. It has been a humble privilege to hear them. I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say we all wish you very well,” –Judge Thomas
The Judge also added that their mental suffering was unprecedented in such a court case in New Zealand, let alone their physical suffering.
Those who survived suffered excruciating or traumatic injuries, usually burns. The treatment was often painful, arduous and disheartening. For many it remains ongoing, said Thomas.
The Labour-led government of the time seemed to want the tragedy to go away and putting the investigation in the hands of a government agency rather than an independent Royal Commission headed by judges showed its indifference. Compared with the 29 deaths in Pike River explosions where a Commission was set up, the White Island tragedy was probably worse in its impact with 47 killed or injured.
The Mainstream media had insufficient coverage of the disaster and the trial. Newshub covered the announcements in detail, but the day after the decisions of Judge Thomas, the Stuffers’ The Post had no article on the events.
The White Island disaster was another case of corporate manslaughter like Pike River. Anna Osborne, whose husband Milton was killed in the underground mine commented on White Island.
I’m absolutely appalled about what has happened. We have learnt absolutely nothing from Pike River, she told the ABC in Australia.