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Image: GNS Science (formerly Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Ltd.).
Friday, February 28, 2025
On Friday, the New Zealand High Court decided to throw out a conviction of Whakaari Management Limited (WML), the owners the volcano Whakaari / White Island, regarding a 2019 incident where 22 visitors died in an eruption from the aforementined volcano, most of whom were tourists. The court ruled that the owners only owned the land that the vocano was situated on, and therefore not responsible for the personal safety of visitors to the volcano.
High Court Justice Moore asserted that although the management company sanctioned the tours of the island, the language in the agreement did not make the company liable for what happened on the island. White Island is the country’s most active volcano, and had been showing signs of increased activity in the weeks leading up to the eruption in 2019.
The volcano had been owned by the Buttle family since the 1930s, and is one of the only privately owned islands in New Zealand. The family’s lawyer’s name is James Cairney. He said that the Buttle family “welcomed the decision,” according to BBC News. He was also quoted saying the family the decision would “bring certainty for all landowners who grant others recreational access to their land.” High Court Justice Moore said, “It is impossible not to be deeply moved and affected by the sheer scale and nature of the human loss in this case.”
