13 Jan 2020

Whakaari/White Island eruption: Official death toll rises to 18

1:08 pm on 13 January 2020

An 18th person has died following the Whakaari/White Island eruption.

Tributes left at White Island Tours base after families returned this morning.

Tributes left at White Island Tours base in December last year. Photo: RNZ/Robin Martin

Police say the person died in a hospital in Australia last night.

They are the second person to die in Australia, after 13 patients were transported there from New Zealand about a month ago.

There are currently 13 patients being cared for at hospitals around New Zealand, at Middlemore, Hutt Valley, Waikato, and Christchurch hospitals.

Four of them remain in a critical condition.

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