Police have announced they are planning to recover those left on Whakaari / White Island tomorrow morning.
John Tims says police are finalising the details of a body recovery mission. Photo: RNZ / Hamish Cardwell
Eight people are still on the volcanic island after Monday's eruption, and are believed dead.
Deputy Commissioner John Tims said the police are currently finalising their plan and intended briefing the families late this afternoon.
Civil Defence's national director Sarah Stuart-Black said the decision to go back to the island is a police decision and she will support them.
Families have been frustrated at a lack of information from the police, and are eager to have the bodies recovered.
Some local helicopter pilots sought permission to launch a private recovery, but were turned down by Police Minister Stuart Nash.
Earlier today, Deputy Commissioner Mike Clement said he would only send people in when he thought the risks could be mitigated.
He said his preference was to get in and out as fast as possible if the police did return.
Volcanic activity is steadily increasing.
GNS Science says the likelihood of an eruption has risen to between 50 and 60 percent over the next 24 hours.
More patients transferred to Australia
At the latest media briefing in Wellington, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said 21 patients remained in New Zealand's burns units.
He said seven Australian patients have been returned to Australia and six are planned to be transferred in the next 24 hours. The repatriations have taken significant pressure off the burns units, he said.
At Middlemore there are eight patients, seven in a critical condition. Four patients are at Waikato Hospital, all critical. Four patients are at Hutt Hospital, with two critical, one serious but stable, and one stable. In Christchurch Hospital's burns unit, there are five patients: three critical and two serious but stable.
"The most critical will be in Middlemore and as spaces have become available, particularly as people have been medivaced to Australia, you'll notice now there are no paitents at Tauranga Hospital, nor at Auckland Hospital, " Dr Bloomfield told media.
Earlier today, Dr Bloomfield, told Morning Report that the 'Multiple Complex Burn Action Plan' had been activated for the first time because the number of people with significant burn injuries was unprecedented.
It was too many for a regional hospital or the National Burns Unit at Middlemore Hospital to cope with.
It meant that the National Burns Unit took charge of the clinical oversight of the full group of injured people to ensure they were in the right place and if not, that they could be transferred to another centre.
Bloomfield said staff at hospitals throughout the country were doing exceptional work caring for both patients and their relatives, some of whom had travelled from all over the world.
"We've coped amazingly well thanks to the staff working around the clock, taking people to theatre to undertake the sort of surgery that is needed, the intensive care that is needed between surgery."
Dr Ashley Bloomfield says Australia's move to take some of its injured citizens home for their treatment is an enormous help for exhausted staff at New Zealand's hospitals. Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
Whakatāne Hospital needed to draw on about 100 staff and every bed space they have to treat the injured from the White Island eruption.
Health Minister David Clark says medical staff are coping well with the huge demands for treating victims, however, Police Minister Stuart Nash says communications with relatives need improving. Photo: RNZ
DHB staff from the small regional hospital have spoken at a press conference outside their premises.
Health Minister David Clark and Police Minister Stuart Nash have also taken part.
A Whakatāne Hospital medical leader said staff at the hospital held mass casualty training exercises, but what they were faced with on Monday was "beyond comprehension".
While they would normally have about six nurses and two doctors in the ED, about 100 staff were on duty, and they used every resource and bed space to care for victims.
"Monday is beyond anything we would have anticipated. I've never seen this number of critically injured patients coming into an emergency department in such a short space of time," a clinical lead at the hospital said.
She said staff were affected by what they saw, and that they knew some of those they were treating or those who had died.
Clark said he had met with staff at Whakatāne Hospital about how Monday's eruption affected them, and it was clear New Zealanders should be proud of how the health system responded.
The system as a whole has responded incredibly well, Clark says, but there's no doubt that capacity has been stretched.
"It's not just today, this is ongoing and the demands on staff over time will continue to be strong."
Nash acknowledged that communication between families and authorities had not been as good as it should have been.
A better process was now being put in place to rectify this.
Brothers Matthew Hollander (left) and Berend Hollander have both died in hospital after suffering injuries from Monday's White Island eruption. Photo: Supplied to RNZ by Knox Grammar School
Two more people died in hospital overnight. One was being treated at Middlemore Hospital and one at Waikato Hospital, police said.
It brings the official death toll to eight, with eight others presumed dead on the island.
Matthew Hollander, a Year 8 student, and Berend (Ben) Hollander, a Year 10 student, both sustained injuries in the eruption. The pair attended Knox Grammar School in Wahroonga, an Upper North Shore suburb of Sydney.
Headmaster of the school, Scott James, wrote in a letter to parents that it was a devastating loss for the community.
"Matthew had a close circle of friends and was popular amongst his peers. He was always enthusiastic about life and actively involved in school and year group activities," he wrote.
"Ben was actively engaged in sports ... was a compassionate and enthusiastic student, with an interest in software design. Ben's engaging smile and quirky sense of humour made him a good mate to his close group of friends and a welcome member to every classroom."
James said the boys' parents are unaccounted for.
Body recovery mission today ruled out
Police Deputy Commissioner Mike Clement says they can't go back to Whakaari / White Island today, because of the heightened risk of eruption.
He told a media conference in Whakatāne this morning he can't give an assurance about the timeframe for recovering bodies, because of the status of the volcano and the risk of eruption.
"Unless we can mitigate [the risk] to a level where I've got a degree of comfort as the person making that call as to what we do next, then we can't make that call."
GNS Science has indicated that there is a 40 to 60 percent chance of the volcano erupting again over the next 24 hours.
"This is the most active Whakaari / White Island has been since 2016 and the situation is highly volatile," geologist Nico Fournier of GNS Science told the media conference.
The chance of an eruption is the biggest risk facing the recovery effort, GNS says.
Clement says the recovery of the bodies remains the police's highest priority.
"There won't be a person in the room who is more passionate about getting on that island than police staff," he said.
Clement says there's a possible trade-off between getting in and getting the bodies as quickly as possible, or spending more time on the island to gather the necessary evidence to identify people.
Mike Clement says police remain committed to retrieving bodies from Whakaari / White Island. Photo: RNZ
Three Australian friends among the dead
Last night Australians Jason Griffiths, 33, Karla Mathews, 32, and Richard Elzer, 32, all from Coffs Harbour, were confirmed dead in a joint statement issued by their friends and Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
They had been travelling with a group of nine friends on the Ovation of the Seas cruise ship and were on an excursion to the island when the volcano erupted.
"On the 4th of December 2019, we embarked upon a cruise as a group of 9 close friends who were looking forward to a wonderful holiday together," the statement from the friends said.
"We enjoyed the first five days of our trip and have many memories that will stay with us forever. On the 9th of December 2019, we were devastated by the news that three of our friends were visiting White Island on a shore excursion during the time of the eruption.
"Some time later, we discovered that two of our friends, Richard Elzer and Karla Mathews, were still on the island. We have been advised that there are no signs of life on the island.
"We then located our third friend, Jason Griffiths, in a hospital in the early hours of the next morning. From that moment until the moment of his passing, Jason was surrounded by friends and family members."
In the message, signed by Alex, Daniel, Ellie, Leanne, Paul and Samantha, they said there were "incredibly saddened to have lost three of our closest friends".
Jason Griffiths, Karla Mathews and Richard Elzer on board the Ovation of the Seas before they set off for Whakaari / White Island on Monday. Photo: Supplied/ DFAT
Minister rejects brother's appeal for permission to recover body
Families of victims of the Whakaari / White Island eruption are growing increasingly frustrated at delays in recovering their bodies.
Last night, police named nine people officially classified as missing. Eight people are thought to still be on Whakaari / White Island.
Hayden Marshall-Inman is one of eight people missing and presumed dead. His brother, Mark Inman, sent a letter to the prime minister seeking permission to go to the island to recover his body.
But Police Minister Stuart Nash is urging patience.
He said he understood the frustrations of the families involved but stressed it was important to mitigate any further risk.
"The environment on the island has changed, we won't be giving anyone a pardon [as requested by Inman]. The last thing we want to do is to have further causalities in what is already a significant tragedy.
"We will not give anyone permission to go to the island [right now]."
Listen to Mark Inman speaking to Morning Report this morning
Nash said there were people in hospital who still could not be identified and for that reason, officials did not know who remained on the island and who had survived.
"My understanding is that there are people in hospital who are so severely injured that they are unable to communicate."
Stuart Nash says no-one will be allowed to embark on private recovery missions for missing relatives. Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas
Ngāti Awa to play a key role in the Whakaari / White Island recovery operation
Wally Haumaha Photo: SUPPLIED
Deputy Police Commissioner Wally Haumaha says while police will make a decision regarding the timing of recovery efforts, Ngāti Awa will lead the process itself.
"Ngāti Awa are front and centre of this operation so for the uplifting of the deceased, once that decision is made, Ngāti Awa will be going across to Whakaari / White Island on HMNZS Wellington."
A tohunga (expert) from Ngāti Awa, as well as a support person, will carry out the karakia, blessings and the upliftings of the tūpāpaku (deceased) in the most appropriate way, he said.
Once the tūpāpaku are back on the whenua, they will be transferred to Auckland Hospital.
"Ngāti Awa will conduct the karakia and blessings before they depart the rohe of Ngāti Awa," Haumaha said.
Decisions made regarding Ngāti Awa whānau will be left up to the iwi, he said.