Dangerous conditions, a deadline and detailed work that needed care and compassion. That's what an elite team of soldiers faced almost a year ago when they went to Whakaari/White Island to recover the victims' bodies.
Among them were Sergeant F, who can't be named for security reasons. But in an exclusive interview with 1 NEWS, the 29-year-old sheds light on a dramatic day.
Today Whakaari's landscape is quiet and barren, the steam the only clue to the constant danger.
But a year ago, Sergeant F remembers it as a smoking, heaving giant.
"Mordor's a pretty good description of the feel of the place," she says.
"Just empty, ashy, steamy, quite hot... It was like being on another planet. It was out of this Earth."
Sergeant F is one of eight members of the bomb squad called up to serve in the most extraordinary of circumstances.
On December 9, a Monday afternoon, the Bay of Plenty volcano erupted, with 47 tourists and guides on the island.
Rescuers on boats and helicopters did what they could, but there were catastrophic injuries.
Eight people didn't make it off Whakaari. Repeated reconnaissance flights found no signs of life.
Through the week, the pressure ratcheted up to retrieve the fallen. But the conditions were still volatile.
Experts trained to handle chemical and biological explosives, the bomb squad, were called up.
They headed in four days after the eruption.
At the time, there was still a six per cent chance in any three-hour period of another eruption.
The specialist team launched from the HMNZ Wellington.
"It was very quiet, there wasn't much chatter going on," Sergeant F says.
"I think we were... I was in my own mind."
They knew six of the bodies were about 300 metres from the jetty. They were given four hours to get in and out.
"If you've done bikram yoga, those sessions last for around 40 minutes, it's like being in one of those rooms fully clothed, walking up a sand dune for a few hours."
Sergeant F says she felt the weight of responsibility but grieving, expectant families motivated the team.
"I suppose it's like if anyone was given that opportunity to do something like that they would," she says.
"I think we all put ourselves in their shoes, we understood the importance of it."
Their suits are designed to protect against chemical warfare agents, toxic vapour and fire. That day, it protected them against a volcano.
Humidity was an ever present problem.
"When I had a hand available, I would be just on that window blade the whole time," Sergeant F says.
The team, which included medics, worked to extract the bodies as a group.
"There was a huge amount of faith in our team that we could do what we were supposed to do on that island."
Their shared experience will never leave them.
For all of their efforts, two bodies have never been recovered - Whakatāne tour guide Hayden Marshall-Inman and Australian tourist Winona Langford.
Still, there's pride in what was achieved.
"These are special women and special men," former Defence Minister Ron Mark says.
"They represent everything that's good about our military and particularly men and women who we charge with undertaking the most extreme mission in the most hazardous circumstances, where you seek to prevent or minimise the loss of innocent civilians or people."
Sergeant F says her experience at Whakaari reaffirmed her belief in her job.
"It's to help others, the reason we join the New Zealand Defence Force is to help others."
SHARE ME