New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addresses the media following an eruption of the White Island volcano, in Whakatane, New Zealand December 10, 2019. REUTERS/Charlotte Greenfield
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that recovery teams were hoping to access the volcanic island on Wednesday where eight people are missing and feared dead, two days after an eruption killed six people.
“That’s everyone’s hope,” Ardern told Reuters in an interview about the possibility of accessing White Island, which lies some 50 km (30 miles) off the mainland.
Ardern said that emergency response officials would meet on Wednesday morning “to again start that process to try and get all information to make those decisions as quickly as possible.”
Reporting by Praveen Menon, Jane Wardell and John Mair; Editing by Sandra Maler and Peter Cooney
