‘I don’t have any hope’: Whakatāne mourns after White Island eruption
At the town, the base for tours to the volcano, bereaved families wait for their loved ones’ bodies to be recovered
On the shores of Whakatāne a small phalanx of mourners is standing guard, their gaze turned out to the Pacific Ocean. The water is an uneasy turquoise, and in the distance, 30 miles (50km) away, White Island’s rumbles are slowly quietening, its flanks just visible through the murky haze of early summer.
Waimarla Richards, 42, doesn’t know where else to go, or what else to do, so she sits on a park bench and stares at the sea. Her relative, Tipene Maangi, 23, is presumed dead on the island. More than 24 hours after the volcano erupted, Maangi’s whanau [family] have now given up hope of their boy returning home safely.
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