WHAKATANE: Elite soldiers retrieved six bodies from New Zealand’s volatile White Island volcano on Friday, winning praise for a “courageous” mission carried out under the threat of another eruption.

At first light, two military helicopters set off from Whakatane airport for the offshore volcano, where an eruption Monday killed at least 16 people and severely injured dozens more.

The goal of the team from the bomb disposal squad was to recover the remains of eight people still on New Zealand’s most active volcano, which sits semi-submerged 50 kilometres out to sea.

After a tense four-hour wait, while volcanologists monitored live seismic feeds for signs of another explosion, police said the majority of the bodies had been safely airlifted to a naval frigate anchored off the coast.

“Those staff showed absolute courage in order to ensure those six people were returned to their loved ones,” police commissioner Mike Bush told reporters, saying they were operating in an “unpredictable and challenwging” environment.

Bush said efforts to locate the two remaining bodies were ongoing, with divers searching nearby waters after a corpse was seen floating in choppy seas on Tuesday.

Helicopters were also searching over the Bay of Plenty and Bush did not rule out a return to the island when conditions were safer.

Drone flights helped locate the six bodies on the caldera before the operation began and the six-strong team laboured to reach them in heavy hazmat suits and breathing gear that restricted movement.

Special forces commander Rian McKinstry said he was “incredibly proud” of the team, who had to deal with heat stress as they prepared the bodies to be airlifted out.

“It was a unique operation, but unique operations are what organisations like the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Squadron gets involved in,” he said.

On the eve of the operation, GeoNet volcanologist Nico Fournier said the dangers facing recovery teams if an eruption occurred included magma, superheated steam, ash and cannonball-like rocks thrown from the caldera at supersonic speed.

As the military began their grim task, police took grieving families out near the volcano on a boat to perform a Maori blessing and locals chanted karakia, or prayers, on the shore as the island smouldered in the distance.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2019