Carmen Hall: White Island tourism operators not to blame

A view of White Island Aerial after the eruption. Photo / George Novak

There is no denying what happened on White Island is a devastating tragedy.

The hearts of our nation go out to those who lost their lives, their families and loved ones, those who remain missing and the injured.

Now various government organisations are scrambling to find answers and apportion blame where they see fit.

On Tuesday, Deputy Police Commissioner John Tims told media a criminal investigation into the deaths would take place which he later retracted, saying it was "too early" to confirm whether that would go ahead.

AUT criminal law professor Warren Brookbanks says tour company operators involved could face manslaughter charges if found criminally liable for failing to protect customers.

WorkSafe has also launched an investigation under the Health and Safety in Employment Act, which could result in "draconian" penalties, including jail time or millions of dollars in fines.

In my view, hard as it will be for many people to stomach, adventure tourism comes with risk and when Mother Nature is involved those risks are unpredictable and merciless.

White Island is an active marine volcano. For the past 30 years, tourists and Kiwis alongside scientific research teams have made a pilgrimage to the crater without any major incident.

Known to Māori as Whakaari, visitors typically clamber off a boat or are flown into the attraction which has been continuously bubbling for 150,000 years.

The number of times it has erupted is not exactly known but previous activity was recorded from March to September in 2000 and again in 2012.

Visitors are given gas masks to protect them from sulphurous gas and fumes and need to wear hard hats.

So when people sign waivers are they doing it on a whim without really thinking anything bad will actually happen?

I have not been to Whakaari but I have visited Gunung Agung in Bali which is also an active volcano that has continuously erupted since 2017.

I knew the risks.

In my opinion, it is not fair to lay the blame with tourism operators. There is no doubt in my mind they are also reeling from this catastrophe.