A survivor has recalled the terrifying moment she lept behind a rock trying to escape as the Whakaari/White Island volcano erupted.
Annie Lu, an Australian survivor, told the Auckland District Court on Thursday about being on the island when during the eruption.
She gave evidence on the third day of the WorkSafe trial against six parties involved in the operations.
Lu's video testimony from about five months after the eruption was played to the court on Thursday morning
She told the detectives the brochure for the trip said it was an easy hike, so she wore gym gear and running shoes.
Her group went on a bus and a boat to get to the island and, at that point, nothing was really explained about the possibility of an explosion, she said. Her group was told the island was on "level 2" - but she had no idea what that meant, Lu said.
"We were told not to step too close to it, there was some paint that was sprayed on a couple of rocks, I think it was in neon orange," she said. "We were told not to step past that because they don't know whether the ground underneath was solid enough to take people."
Lu's mother decided to take one more photo of the crater when they spotted dark clouds. Lu, whose image the trial judge has suppressed, told detectives someone screamed "everybody run" and that was when the explosion happened.
"Me and mum just ran for it but I remember thinking to myself there is no way we can outrun this. We're going to have to find something to hide behind or something to lessen the blow of whatever was going to fall on us," Lu said.
"I saw this kind of biggish old rock formation and I just dived behind it."
Lu's mother screamed her name before everything went dark and described a big wind "that just knocked us for six", she said.
"Just so much pain, it was just black and I remember screaming into the gas mask. My helmet was knocked off me when I hit the ground from the force of the explosion.
"I pulled the hood of my hoodie over me and went into a foetal position, held onto my gas mask… and I was just screaming into the gas mask."
After two or three "waves of hot heat and pain", she said everything went silent.
"I heard mum scream my name and it was light, the blackness had parted and I popped up and took Mum with me, and then we just ran as fast as we could to where we got on the island, the pier with the rubber boats."
Lu said her mum was "screaming" at the boat for someone to come and help them.
"I remember it was so hot because what I was wearing wasn't made of natural fibres, so I climbed down the ladder on the side of the pier to cool down my pants because it was just burning."
When she got onto the boat, Lu said she remembers racing inside to the toilet to wash her hands.
"I could feel my hands burning, coming red, then bubbling… it almost felt like it wanted to fall off, nails kind of splitting apart."
While she was on the boat, Lu said she remembers shaking and couldn't bend her legs or sit down.
"I started freaking out."
Lu's evidence comes a day after another survivor, US newlywed Matthew Urey, also recalled his time on the island.
Urey told the court he suffered burns to 53 percent of his body. The worst was to the lower parts of his arms and legs, face and neck - where his skin was not covered by clothes.
He added his lower back also got burnt, where his shirt rode up.
Urey also described the moment the eruption happened and how he and his wife took shelter behind a rock and "rode it out".
"I remember feeling my flesh burning and yelling out at one point, just in pain," he said. "I remember screaming out when it was burning my skin and I couldn't see when it was finished."
Forty-seven people were on the island when it erupted on December 9, 2019, with 22 dying from extreme burns and blast injuries.
