New Zealand volcano explosion leaves American couple with severe burns, death toll rises to 6

The New Zealand police said in a press release late Tuesday that a person who was being treated at the Middlemore Hospital after the White Island eruption has died, bringing the official death toll to six.

White Island sits about 30 miles offshore from mainland New Zealand and experts say it's the country's most active cone volcano, with about 70 percent of the volcano lying under the sea.

The New Zealand Police said that there were 47 people on the island at the time of the eruption, including 24 people from Australia, nine from the U.S., two from China, four from Germany, five people from New Zealand, two from the United Kingdom, and one person from Malaysia. Many were passengers aboard the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Ovation of the Seas.

Eight people who were reported missing are presumed dead, and bodies of the deceased are being transported to Auckland.

"We are working to confirm the identities of those involved, including those who have died and who are injured. The nature of the injuries that people have suffered is severe and means identifying them is a complex matter." police said.

Among the injured are American couple Matthew and Lauren Urey, from Richmond, Va., who were spending their honeymoon in New Zealand.

They spoke to family members just before heading to the island.

Relatives told WTVR-TV that Matthew left his family a voicemail informing them he and his wife were badly burned, and they were later contacted by Royal Caribbean.

About 30 of the survivors remained hospitalized on Tuesday, many flown to burn units around the country. The first confirmed death was of a local man, Hayden Marshall-Inman, a guide who had shown tourists around the island.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said 11 Australians are unaccounted for and 13 were hospitalized. Three Australians were suspected to be among the initial five confirmed dead, he told reporters in Sydney.

“I fear there is worse news to come,” Morrison said.

New Zealand's GeoNet seismic monitoring agency had raised the volcano's alert level on Nov. 18 from 1 to 2 on a scale where 5 represents a major eruption, noting an increase in sulfur dioxide gas, which originates from magma. It also said volcanic tremors had increased from weak to moderate strength. It raised the alert level to 4 for a time after Monday's eruption but lowered it to 3 as the activity subsided.

Source: foxnews.com