New Zealand court finds final defendant in Whakaari White Island volcano case guilty


The final defendants in the deadly 2019 Whakaari White Island eruption were found guilty Tuesday. File Photo by Michael Schade/EPA-EFE

Oct. 31 (UPI) -- A New Zealand court ruled on Tuesday against a company that managed tours on a volcanic Whakaari White Island when a deadly eruption in 2019 occurred, saying it failed to mitigate and minimize the risk for tourists.

Judge Evangelos Thomas, based in Auckland, ruled that Whakaari Management Limited, owned by brothers James, Andrew and Peter Buttle, failed to "manage and control" the volcanic island as a workplace.

"The interaction between WML and GNS was not enough to amount to taking the necessary expert advice on the risk of permitting tours to Whakaari," Thomas said.

The company had been licensing other businesses to run tours on the island and Thomas added the interaction between them was "ad hoc, infrequent, unstructured, informal and incomplete when much more was required."

"It was fundamental that it engaged the necessary expertise to assess risks arising from the conduct of commercial tours on its active volcano," Thomas said.

"This was critical to it ensuring tours could be conducted safely. While that was the expert evidence, it is also common sense."

The White Island eruption on Dec. 9, 2019, killed 22 people.

Last month, Thomas threw out safety-related charges against the brothers individually, citing a lack of evidence that they were personally liable, but allowed the charges against their company to move forward.

WorkSafe originally charged 13 parties following its investigation of the eruption, which injured 25 others. Six entered guilty pleas while six more had their charges dismissed. Whakaari Management Limited was the last case involving White Island.