'It didn't look good' - Fisherman says White Island eruption looked like 'a hell of an explosion'

December 9, 2019

Dan Harvey was fishing off the coast of Bay of Plenty and says “it didn’t look good” for anyone on the island.

An eruption on White Island this afternoon looked like “a hell of an explosion went on”, according to a fisherman who was off the coast of the Bay of Plenty.

Dan Harvey told 1 NEWS they were setting their long line in when there was a big burst of steam coming from White Island and nothing above it.

“Quite often White Island is streaming away a little bit but there was a big burst coming out and nothing above it,” he said.

“It just kept expanding and getting bigger, looked like a hell of an explosion went on. I don’t know what it’s like for people on it, but it didn’t look good.”

The explosion was as active as Mr Harvey had seen White Island in some time.

“Not like that -  in a huge burst," he said. "It’s usually just constantly going but there was a huge burst of ash and steam."

Mr Harvey said he was fishing off Mātātā, north of Whakatāne - about 40km from the island – and was too far away to hear anything.

“It’s calmed down a bit from what I first saw," he added. "It’s definitely slowed down and seems a bit more relaxed than it was.”

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