NZ tour operators told to pay $13m in fines and reparations over White Island eruption

March 1, 2024 — 3.36pm Normal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text size Wellington: Tour booking agents and managers of the New Zealand island where a volcanic eruption killed 22 people in 2019 have been ordered to pay nearly $NZ13 million ($12 million) in fines and reparations. The holding company of the island’s owners, a boat tour operator and three companies that operated helicopter tours, had been found guilty of safety breaches at a three-month trial last year. Tourists on a boat look at the eruption of the volcano on White Island, New Zealand, on December 9, 2019. Credit: AP White Island, the tip of an undersea volcano also known by its Indigenous Māori name Whakaari, was a popular tourist destination before the eruption. There were 47 tourists and tour guides on the island when superheated steam erupted on December 9, 2019, killing some people instantly and leaving survivors with agonising burns. Fourteen Australians were among those killed. “There is no way to measure the emotional harm survivors and affected families have endured and will continue to endure,” Judge Evangelos Thomas said during the sentencing in a Wellington court on Friday. “Reparation in a case like this can be no...