Two helicopter pilots who flew directly into the crater of White Island to recover victims have revealed the horrors they discovered in the aftermath of the 2019 eruption.
Wednesday marks one year since the Whakaari/White Island volcanic eruption that killed 22 people and severely injured 25 others.
Forty-seven people were on the island when it blew, blasting plumes of thick black smoke, gas and ash into the air. Some were taken off the island by the White Island Tour boat they had come out on but 20 more remained.
In the immediate aftermath of the explosion, helicopter pilots Mark Law and Tom Storey flew to White Island to find the remaining victims.
"We looked out to sea and saw the plume and decided to come to the hanger as fast as I could and make a plan from there," Storey told Newshub.
Law said they made the decision to fly out to the island almost subconsciously.
"It was a matter of people being hurt and we were heading that way and went to take care of them. That's what Kiwis do."
The flame retardant clothes they wore that day still smell like sulphur, despite many washes.
"It was ashing hard, the island, so there was a plume at 8000 or 9000 feet," Law said.
He said they flew around the inside of the crater and saw his mate Tim Barrow's destroyed helicopter and the huge amount of ash that came with it.
"I wondered where his guys were. Then I saw the folks from the boat and I thought, 'yeah I'm going to land and go to them'."
But what he saw on the island will always stay with him.
"Very quickly I went and held every one," he said.
"I grabbed them to see because obviously, some people were clearly dead, some were varying states of consciousness, just alive, so by touching everyone you could feel whether they were responding."
They were expecting paramedics to follow and bring medical supplies, but the 11 rescue helicopters that scrambled to respond were grounded by authorities at Whakatane Airport.
Storey said he was "disappointed" they didn't come out to help.
"We could have really used them out there you know."
So Law and Storey helped bundle the wounded and dying into three civilian helicopters. Their descriptions of what they had to deal with are so horrific Newshub has edited out the most graphic details.
"I think worst of all was seeing the blisters on people, and seeing people's skin that looked like pre-cooked sausages on a barbeque if you want to be that blunt," said Law.
"To try and handle those people with skin sliding off in your hands, things like that, that's when the seriousness of it becomes so apparent to us."
All the helicopters took the dead and wounded back to Whakatane but Storey made the brave decision to stay on the island on his own to make sure they hadn't missed anyone.
"Even the people that didn't survive, that we couldn't save, at least we gave them a chance," he said.
"I'm sure to their families, that means something that someone was with them, trying to help them in their last moments, that they weren't just left there for dead."
Storey found two more survivors and he had a friend, fixed-wing pilot John Funnell, circling above him and on radio communications. But Funnell informed him that there would be no paramedics coming after all.
"At one point we did have two girls that I could get a pulse from… I did call up John and he said we would have to wait and see but it didn't look like the Westpac heli was coming out," he told Newshub.
"I just sat with the two girls, just propped them up, kind of lent them on each other. They were in their final moments and passed away not long after finding them."
The Westpac Helicopter did arrive later and Storey was told as there were no more survivors, it was time to go back to the mainland.
He jumped in a civilian helicopter, leaving eight bodies behind, thinking they'd be coming straight back for them. But it was days before the military went back, recovering six.
"It wasn't a nice feeling flying off the island knowing there were still eight souls out on the island. That's the thing that sticks with me the most."
December 9 will always be a date that stands out for Law and Storey. It was the day that life threw the toughest possible questions at them and they answered 'yes' - when all others believed the risk was too great.
