New Zealand Volcano erupts with tourists inside the rim
Discussion
southendpier said:
poo at Paul's said:
normalbloke said:
The helicopter was already on the ground. It’s been blown off it’s small landing deck that you can see in the picture.The rotors were probably not turning when they were damaged.
Yes, I reckon you're right, just goes to show the forces involved, you'd think it would all shoot upwards, but there's clearly a s
t load of wind come down or even gone up that mountain. Horrific.
Presumably those very close would have suffered blast and burn injuries, those further away could have suffocated?
Grim indeed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyroclastic_flow
Looking at the pics anyone in the crater is almost certainly dead, as it's too far to walk to get out in the few minutes between the last pic and the camera going dead. If the shock wave didn't kill them then the crater will have most likely filled with gas and suffocated them. Add in no visibility from steam/gas/ash and you wouldn't know which way to go even if you could walk and breathe. The falling ash would have also been very hot, and dropped a lot of rocks etc as the ash cloud collapses down on top of you as it becomes to heavy to support itself. That'll be why the helicopters are covered in ash. It must be close to 0% survival possibility in the crater sadly,
There's different types of volcanoes - this is one that involves water, so more explosive and so can be harder to know when it will blow - it's basically pressure cooker, and at some point it will pop. Ones like Hawaii are relatively much safer (at least near the lava flows) as they're more runny lava and so will not go bang in the same way.
This was literally an accident waiting to happen. It is an active volcano (apparently in the world’s top ten most active). It erupted as recently as 2001. If you have tourist groups visiting often then the risk for each individual tourist is moderate but the probability that some people would eventually be killed was close to 100%.
Esceptico said:
This was literally an accident waiting to happen. It is an active volcano (apparently in the world’s top ten most active). It erupted as recently as 2001. If you have tourist groups visiting often then the risk for each individual tourist is moderate but the probability that some people would eventually be killed was close to 100%.
This is silly. There's no one there overnight for starters.This is from 2013
Scientist, we can’t predict what will happen when it might blow, later on we hear scientists won’t go because it’s so dangerous due to activity.
Tour operators are like well we warn them it’s dangerous but nows a great time to go because it’s so active.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpuBrkmU9hs
Just before it blew.
Casualty list will no doubt grow
Edited by Pesty on Monday 9th December 19:22
I did a chopper trip there 20 years ago, plan was to land & walk around. Pilot decided it wasn't safe - we circled around, instead. Nothing bad happened, lots of smoke, steam etc. Sometimes shyte happens. I've seen someone choke in a restaurant. On Friday, 4 tourists died in a bad crash about 2 km from my home.
New Zealand is full of geological stuff waiting to happen.
We used to visit Rotorua for holidays when I was a kid - happy days running around boiling mud pools and geysers of scalding hot water. You'd wonder if the whole lot would ever go BOOM under your feet. For about half a second.
Rangitoto Island is a very young volcano a couple of miles out on the water from Auckland Central Busines District and is a city icon. Thousands of people trek to the summit each year.
If it blew, the entire city would be totalled.
We used to visit Rotorua for holidays when I was a kid - happy days running around boiling mud pools and geysers of scalding hot water. You'd wonder if the whole lot would ever go BOOM under your feet. For about half a second.
Rangitoto Island is a very young volcano a couple of miles out on the water from Auckland Central Busines District and is a city icon. Thousands of people trek to the summit each year.
If it blew, the entire city would be totalled.
Lake Taupo is one huge supervolcano , if that goes half the southern hemisphere is in trouble..
The your operators go on GNS data, level 1 or 2 is pretty low level and not an indication of dangerous activity.
it is an active volcano though and can go at any time, Ruapehu went a while ago when the ski field was active and it wads at level 2 also.
The your operators go on GNS data, level 1 or 2 is pretty low level and not an indication of dangerous activity.
it is an active volcano though and can go at any time, Ruapehu went a while ago when the ski field was active and it wads at level 2 also.
S100HP said:
Can I be a bit morbid?
What would happen to your body of caught up in that? Blown to bits? Vaporised? What trying to understand earlier. I assume there will be no possibility of recovery?
Really depends. What would happen to your body of caught up in that? Blown to bits? Vaporised? What trying to understand earlier. I assume there will be no possibility of recovery?
The helicopter got smashed and it was a fair way away, so plenty of high velocity rocks.
Then hot ash, steam and noxious gasses.
Theres a good chance of recovering bodies if it calms down enough for people to look safely.
citizensm1th said:
REALIST123 said:
Well, it’s NZ and unless things have changed since I was there a few years ago (off there again in a few weeks) then it’s very much at your own risk with limited duty of care for the organisers of ‘adventure’ pastimes.
I’m not critical of that, in fact I like the idea of taking responsibility for oneself, but it seems to lead to quite risky ‘tourist’ offers all over, eg bungee jumps, white water stuff, paragliding, and of course volcano watching.
If you are going to the south island you will need to book a flight between Christchurch and duniden as both the east and west coast highways have been hit by massive storms in the last week making both impassable I’m not critical of that, in fact I like the idea of taking responsibility for oneself, but it seems to lead to quite risky ‘tourist’ offers all over, eg bungee jumps, white water stuff, paragliding, and of course volcano watching.
Rob Dickinson, if you read this, how bad is it out there?
REALIST123 said:
Really? Thanks for that. We’re flying into CHC and are pretty flexible after that. Actually it’s about 11 weeks till we arrive CHC so maybe things will have improved.
Rob Dickinson, if you read this, how bad is it out there?
There are currently people stranded in some of the small towns near queenstown, where the roads have been washed away. They are talking of a week to get one road open, months for other major links.Rob Dickinson, if you read this, how bad is it out there?
REALIST123 said:
citizensm1th said:
REALIST123 said:
Well, it’s NZ and unless things have changed since I was there a few years ago (off there again in a few weeks) then it’s very much at your own risk with limited duty of care for the organisers of ‘adventure’ pastimes.
I’m not critical of that, in fact I like the idea of taking responsibility for oneself, but it seems to lead to quite risky ‘tourist’ offers all over, eg bungee jumps, white water stuff, paragliding, and of course volcano watching.
If you are going to the south island you will need to book a flight between Christchurch and duniden as both the east and west coast highways have been hit by massive storms in the last week making both impassable I’m not critical of that, in fact I like the idea of taking responsibility for oneself, but it seems to lead to quite risky ‘tourist’ offers all over, eg bungee jumps, white water stuff, paragliding, and of course volcano watching.
Rob Dickinson, if you read this, how bad is it out there?
I dont know the details of which roads are still closed or which are likely to remain - this will help. https://www.journeys.nzta.govt.nz/traffic
As for CHC you wouldnt know it even happened, we've had a little wind but its dry and warm. So is most places north - no water in the rivers to the north, kaikoura/hanmer/nelson etc all good.
11 weeks it'll be all sorted probably.
jsf said:
There are currently people stranded in some of the small towns near queenstown, where the roads have been washed away. They are talking of a week to get one road open, months for other major links.
The west coast highway has had some bridges washed away. I have a friend who works for faulton hogan probably spelt wrong who do a lot of infrastructure work and it seems he is constantly repairing roads bridges and railways from some natural damage
NZ is kind of shaky and rumbly. 
Last time there i just missed out on the major earthquake in Christchurch, it made quite a mess.
A while back i drove up to the top of Mount St Helens in Washington State, USA. The scale of destruction there is impossible to explain, you have to see it.
Last time there i just missed out on the major earthquake in Christchurch, it made quite a mess.
A while back i drove up to the top of Mount St Helens in Washington State, USA. The scale of destruction there is impossible to explain, you have to see it.
citizensm1th said:
The west coast highway has had some bridges washed away.
I have a friend who works for faulton hogan probably spelt wrong who do a lot of infrastructure work and it seems he is constantly repairing roads bridges and railways from some natural damage
yeah its not unusual, the level at the moment in places like Wanaka is pretty high but no t unknown. I have a friend who works for faulton hogan probably spelt wrong who do a lot of infrastructure work and it seems he is constantly repairing roads bridges and railways from some natural damage
The large slips are the biggest problem
jsf said:
NZ is kind of shaky and rumbly.
Last time there i just missed out on the major earthquake in Christchurch, it made quite a mess.
A while back i drove up to the top of Mount St Helens in Washington State, USA. The scale of destruction there is impossible to explain, you have to see it.
I visited a couple of years after Christchurch and even then the damage and the way the ground had moved was staggering Last time there i just missed out on the major earthquake in Christchurch, it made quite a mess.
A while back i drove up to the top of Mount St Helens in Washington State, USA. The scale of destruction there is impossible to explain, you have to see it.
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