Forgot Password

Sign In

Register

  • Company Information

  • Billing Address

  • Are you primarily interested in advertising *

  • Do you want to recieve the HealthTimes Newsletter?

  • Foreign Minister Marise Payne will travel to New Zealand after volcano blast

    Author: AAP

Foreign Minister Marise Payne will travel to New Zealand to meet Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in the wake of the deadly White Island volcanic eruption.

The visit comes as an Australian victim caught in the blast died in Sydney's Concord Hospital on Sunday, almost a week after the volcanic blast hit tour groups on the island.

Subscribe for FREE to the HealthTimes magazine



Ms Payne will be in New Zealand from Monday until Wednesday and will meet with Ms Ardern, along with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs minister Winston Peters.

The meeting is to "express our deep appreciation for the professional and quick response of the New Zealand emergency and medical services and the care they have provided to Australian survivors of the eruption," Ms Payne said in a statement on Sunday evening.

"Our hearts go out to all of the families and loved ones of those affected.

FEATURED JOBS

Business Unit Manager | Healthcare
Frontline Health Melbourne
Territory Manager | Aesthetics
Frontline Health Melbourne
Emergency Medicine SMO
Omega Medical Pty Ltd
Emergency Senior
Omega Medical Pty Ltd


"Australia thanks the New Zealand Defence Force members who returned to the site of the eruption to recover those who lost their lives, the New Zealand police for their ongoing close cooperation, and the many New Zealand medical professionals who have been involved in treating victims.

"We thank and acknowledge (the local tribe) Ngati Awa for the care and sensitivity they have shown to loved ones of the victims, at a time when they too are grieving."

There was confusion in New Zealand on Friday when Ms Payne said she understood the six bodies returned from White Island were all Australian.

New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush at the time called this premature.

"I'm aware of that commentary. I would say it's too early to say," he said

Some 47 people, including 24 Australian citizens and four permanent residents, were on the island when the volcano erupted on Monday.

Two deaths on the weekend has the official toll from the deadly blast at 16, 10 of them Australian.

A further two people are missing, with their bodies believed to be in the waters around White Island, also known as Whakaari.

Twelve people are still being treated in Australian hospitals after being repatriated with severe burns.

After completing the disaster victim identification work, New Zealand police on Sunday also released the names of seven more people, including four Australians and two Americans with Australian permanent residency, who died in the tragedy.

They are Adelaide schoolgirl Zoe Hosking, 15, her stepfather Gavin Dallow, 53, Karla Mathews, 32, and Sydney man Anthony Langford, 51.

Sydney high school students and brothers Matthew and Berend Hollander, 13 and 16, were also named.

NSW Health on Sunday confirmed the death of an Australian man in Sydney.

"Officers from Burwood police area command attended Concord Hospital following the death of a man after being medically transferred from New Zealand," the department said in a statement.

"NSW Health wishes to pass on our condolences to the family."

The man's family requested that his name and age not be released.

The condition of another Australian victim caught in the eruption stabilised in Concord Hospital overnight.

An earlier NSW Health update on Sunday morning listed five NSW residents in Concord Hospital and Royal North Shore Hospital as in critically ill conditions.

Three patients evacuated from New Zealand to The Alfred hospital in Melbourne remain in a critical condition.

There are now three NSW victims in stable conditions at local hospitals.

A dedicated service was being held on Sunday evening at St Leonards Catholic Church in Naremburn for those affected by the eruption.

A recovery team returned to New Zealand's White Island on Sunday morning but was unable to retrieve the remains of two people still missing after the eruption.

Comments

Thanks, you've subscribed!

Share this free subscription offer with your friends

Email to a Friend


  • Remaining Characters: 500