Checkpoint for Tuesday 10 December 2019

5:10 PM.Police have announced they will carry out a criminal investigation into the deaths of at least five people from the Whakaari White Island eruption.

There were 47 people on the island when it erupted… Read more Video, Audio

5:15 PM.Of the five people are confirmed dead; up to three may be Australians. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison broke the news to the country early on Tuesday morning. Read more Video, Audio

5:17 PM.A Hamilton man who gave first aid to some of those critically injured says he poured cold water over their severely burned bodies and kept talking to them to stop them falling unconscious as the tour… Read more Video, Audio

5:32 PM.News from the business sector, including a market report. Video, Audio

5:41 PM.An intensive care paramedic says White Island looked like a scene from Chernobyl in the immediate aftermath of the explosion.

A veteran of more than 20 years Rusty Clarke was onboard one of two… Read more Video, Audio

5:47 PM.An Australian professor of geosciences believes tourists should not have even been on Whakaari White island because the volcano is too volatile.

Five people are confirmed dead after the eruption at… Read more Video, Audio

5:55 PM.Most of the people who were on Whakaari White Island on Monday were passengers on board a cruise ship the Ovation of the Seas, which had berthed in Tauranga.

They took a day trip out to the island… Read more Audio

6:08 PM.Police have launched a criminal investigation in the aftermath of the Whakaari White Island eruption.

There were 47 people on the island when it erupted at 2.11pm on Monday, in tours hosted by White… Read more Video, Audio

6:14 PM.The Police Minister Stuart Nash has defended the police decision not to attempt a Whakaari rescue on Monday night and says he's confident authorities did everything they could.

RNZ deputy political… Read more Audio

6:18 PM.Should they have been there? That's the question many are asking in the wake of the tragic eruption on Whakaari White Island which has killed at least five people.

The island's alert level had… Read more Video, Audio

6:21 PM.One of the people missing on Whakaari is believed to be a 23-year-old man who had only started working as a tour guide on the island a few months ago.

Friends and whānau of Tipene Maangi gathered in… Read more Audio

6:25 PM.In other news, hundreds of people have finally managed to leave Franz Josef, after massive slips cut off the tourist hot spot in all directions.

Wild weather over the weekend hammered the West Coast… Read more Audio