19 Dec 2019

Whakaari/White Island: 14 people still in New Zealand hospitals

From Morning Report, 7:29 am on 19 December 2019

The search for the remaining two victims of the Whakaari/White Island eruption is going to being scaled back to a locally-led operation.

A helicopter and a boat will continue to search around the island and also the coastline towards East Cape for the two people still missing after last week's eruption.

Fourteen Whakaari/White Island victims remain in hospitals across New Zealand, 10 of them in critical condition.

The people are being cared for at Middlemore, Hutt Valley, Waikato, and Christchurch hospitals.

Middlemore Hospital chief medical officer Dr Pete Watson speaks to Susie Ferguson.