How tourists became first-aiders on seas off White Island volcano
One minute they were taking photos, the next tending the burns of fellow tourists in New Zealand
It was a beautiful, clear day in Whakatāne, a town on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island, the air fresh with the beginning of summer. Suddenly and silently, just after lunch, a massive plume of smoke spewed into the blue sky.
Just off the volcanic White Island, or Whakaari, a boatload of tourists who had been standing at the crater just 20 minutes earlier watched in surprise, and then horror.