The body recovery team has landed on Whakaari/White Island after an emotional morning in Whakatāne.
Deputy Commissioner John Tims announced the milestone in a statement at 8.30am.
Earlier, crowds gathered on the Whakatāne shoreline looking seaward as authorities launched their mission to retrieve bodies off Whakaari/White Island.
Military choppers were seen flying near the island at dawn on Friday, one of the first obvious signs of the recovery mission.
Family representatives of the victims also motored out of the harbour in the pre-dawn darkness to take part in a blessing as the operation to recover the eight bodies on the island commenced, Deputy Commissioner John Tims confirmed in a statement at 7am.
It’s been five days since the volcano erupted, shooting ash, rocks and toxic gas over the 47 people on the island.
Of those, eight have died, another eight are presumed dead on the island and 23 are still critical in hospitals around the country.
The whānau of Tipene Maangi, one of the missing guides presumed dead on the island, left the area upon news that family representatives had returned from the island.
Earlier one of his aunties sung a moving waiata.
Barb Phillips of Ngāti Awa hoped the morning of singing had helped the “hurting” town.
“Spiritually you can feel it and it is everywhere,” she said.
But for Whakatāne resident Brian Cosgrove, the retrieval should have come sooner.
He and dog Marley were at a lookout waiting to watch the operation unfold before dawn.
“I hope they get them off, for all concerned,” he told Stuff.
He believed the operation should have been undertaken sooner but said rescue personnel would have been hamstrung by the cautiousness of “higher-ups”.
Down at the security cordon at the harbour, locals sang waiata to give strength to the recovery team. At the airport, two military choppers landed then took off, heading toward Whakaari/White Island.
Vanessa Hudson of Ngāti Awa told Stuff iwi members had gathered at dawn to show their aroha.
Sunrise was a spiritual time, she said.
“Doing it this way, our wairua and our waiata and the echoes will come off the hills … and head over to Whakaari to help a safe return for the whānau.”
An auntie of Tipene Maangi, who didn’t want to be named, said a member of his whānau had headed out to the White Island.
“It is what we have been waiting for,” she told Stuff from the cordon at Whakatāne Harbour. “We are hoping the Whakaari lets us on to bring our baby home.”
The iwi turn out at dawn showed “how much they are loved”.
“Everyone wants them home.”
Huia Raki, from Te Teko, was hopeful as she watched Whakaari from the lookout with her children about 6.30am as a helicopter hovered near the island.
She had earlier been at the cordon saying karakia when she saw a lone shark swimming up the river mouth, which she believed was a good sign.
“They’re going to get them off I reckon. It’s going to be a good day.”
Source: Stuff
Featured Image: The location of bodies remaining on Whakaari/White Island, according to helicopter pilot Mark Law. Photo / Stuff
