White Island survivor Stephanie Browitt - pictured with her dad Paul who died in the tragedy - has been targeted by cruel online trolls. Photo / Supplied
White Island survivor Stephanie Browitt - pictured with her dad Paul who died in the tragedy - has been targeted by cruel online trolls. Photo / Supplied
A brave White Island survivor - who lost her sister and father in the tragedy - has been targeted by cruel online trolls tagging her in video posts of volcanic eruptions.
Stephanie Browitt suffered life-threatening burns – and her 21-year-old sister Krystal and their 55-year-old father Paul died - when Whakaari / White Island erupted underneath them on December 9, 2019.
Krystal and Paul were among the 22 who died in the tragedy off the Bay of Plenty coastline; with the death toll featuring 20 tourists and two New Zealand tour guides.
Browitt, from Melbourne, has been using a variety of social media platforms to post regular updates on her ongoing recovery.
That includes TikTok, where in one video to her 638,000 followers she has shockingly revealed trolls had tagged her in online posts showing other volcanoes erupting.
"Why someone would do that I really don't know but all I do know is there are definitely no good intentions when doing that," she said.
"Everyone who has done that has been blocked instantaneously and the fact some people are doing this as a joke is really concerning."
Krystal Browitt (left to right), Paul Browitt and Stephanie Browitt at the crater on Whakaari / White Island shortly before the devastating eruption. Photo / Supplie
It is not the first time that someone associated with the White Island tragedy has been the target of online cruelty.
Two months after the devastating eruption – which also left 24 others injured – someone created a fake online fundraiser claiming to be raising money for the traumatised widower of hero nurse Shella Cheng, who cared for White Island victims.
Cheng – a Whakatāne Hospital intensive care nurse - had worked tirelessly caring for those badly injured before tragically dying in a car crash five days after the eruption.
Her grieving husband Rhys Bugden told the Herald at the time the fake fundraiser was "pretty low and disrespectful".
"They don't care about what sort of damage they can do, they just don't care. If they can make some money out of something, it doesn't matter who they hurt along the way."
As well as opening up about her fight against physical injuries Browitt suffered on White Island – including burns to 70 per cent of her body – she has also talked to her followers on TikTok about the psychological wounds inflicted.
That includes battling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, revealing she was triggered back to the day of the eruption during Australia Day celebrations in Melbourne earlier this year, describing the experience as "horrid".
Stephanie Browitt is bravely charting her recovery from her injuries, as well as opening up on her battle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Photo / Supplied
"Unfortunately we weren't warned of or knew of the 21 cannon salute to commemorate Australia Day," she said.
"The loud noises and strong smoke set off my PTSD and I was left crying as past memories flooded my mind.
"It took me a while for me to ground myself back in reality and realise I was completely safe."
Browitt has previously revealed the details of how the family trip turned to tragedy.
On the day of the eruption, the Browitts reached the centre of the island at about 2pm, and took a picture together at the edge of the steaming crater lake at 2.04pm.
Six minutes afterwards they were headed to the jetty when White Island erupted.
Krystal managed to capture the moment it began on camera, with a gas cloud beginning to emerge from near the crater lake.
Their tour guide instructed the group to start running and before Browitt was able to put her gas mask on her face she was hit by a wave of ash and rock.
"It felt like a wave, like it just takes you," she said in an interview with the Four Corners show.
Twenty-two people lost their lives and many more were injured by the December 9, 2019, eruption. Photo / Allessandro Kauffman
"I was just knocked over. I was tumbling, rolling, for minutes. I mean it felt like forever until it stopped and then it was just burning hot.
"I remember trying to stand up and it took so much energy just to stand up I remember thinking, 'I can't believe how hard this is'. My legs just felt like jelly."
After getting to her feet and walking for a short time, Browitt fell and tumbled down a small hill and landed among a group of people.
Help only arrived nearly an hour after the volcano erupted.
No one was able to move, Browitt said. As they waited for help, the sun made her burns more painful.
She heard her father call out her name and she called back to him before everything went quiet, Browitt said.
"I think a lot of people gave up on screaming," she told Four Corners.
