A New Zealand team was set to sail to an erupting South Pacific volcano today to assess the island's condition and prospects for recovering a missing government worker, feared killed in a hail of rock and ash.
It wasn't clear why officials chose to make the three-day sea trip over a much faster helicopter flight, but a helicopter pilot who flew an earlier mission to the island said volcanic ash clouds could make such flights hazardous.
Friday's eruption in one of Raoul Island's three main craters threw rocks and boulders into the air, and buried the nearby area in mud and ash.
Conservation Minister Chris Carter said the missing staffer, whom police identified as Mark Kearney, 32, was almost certainly dead on the remote island in the Kermadec group, 1,000km north of New Zealand.
"He was at the exact epicenter of the massive destruction, including where 5m of ash fell," he said after speaking to a Conservation Department worker who had witnessed the devastation.
An assessment team of police, conservation officials and a vulcanologist was expected to set sail for the island today, said the department's area manager, Rolien Elliot.
New Zealand's main geological group, GNS Science, said seismic activity on the island now consisted of clusters of small earthquakes with "no further obvious volcanic activity."
Elliott said in a statement that the recovery team would only land on the island if they decide it is safe based on visual checks and updates on seismic activity.
Kearney had been part of a small team monitoring the area's weather and plant life from a permanent base on the island. They were inspecting the crater lake when the volcano erupted.
Five surviving Conservation Department staff evacuated on Friday were in good condition but exhausted after their ordeal.
"Understandably, they are upset by having to leave their missing work mate on the island," Elliott said.
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