Wellington, New Zealand (AP) – the owners of an island volcano in New Zealand, where 22 tourists and local drivers were killed in eruption, were punished for their criminal presence that they failed to keep visitors safe from a judge on Friday.
The decision releases the company from the payment of millions of dollars to recover the families of those who were injured in the 2019 explosion of Whakaari, also known as White Island, and two dozen were seriously injured. Most of the 47 people on the island were passengers of US cruise ships and Australia on a walking tour, along with their local guides.
The company, Whakaari Management, is managed by three brothers who own the active volcano on the northern island of New Zealand, are upheld their sentences for violating the Health and Safety Act in New Zealand in a three-day hearing last October at the High Court in Ouckland. They were found guilty in a trial in 2023.
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Responsibility for drilled tourist safety
The case depends on whether the company – which granted access to the volcano to tourist operators and scientific groups, for a fee – had to be responsible for the island’s safety practices under the health and safety laws in New Zealand. Anyone responsible for the workplace must guarantee the management of the dangers and safety of everyone there, including when entering and starting points.
The survivors told the process of emotional testimony during the process of the company in 2023 that they were not told that the active volcano was dangerous when they paid to visit it. They were not equipped with protective equipment and many of them wore clothes that made them horrifying burns more harmful.
In the written decision on Friday, justice Simon Moore ruled that the company was not obliged under the relevant law to ensure that the walking place on the walking tour was without risk to health and safety. He agreed with the company’s lawyers that the company provides access to the naked land through permits – and should not be legally considered as an entity that manages or controls the workplace.
The judge decided that it was not unreasonable to rely on tourist operators – who were licensed under the New Zealand Act – and on emergency management and scientific agencies to evaluate the island’s risks and safety precautions.
An important case for the tourism sector
The case had distant consequences and changes the laws governing the adventure tourism industry of New Zealand, which is often based on outdoor unrest at or around the many natural dangers in the country. Operators must now take all reasonable steps to inform customers of any serious risks.
The company’s attorneys said during the hearing of last October that if the sentence is allowed to stand up, it will make other landowners not allow such activities to be carried out on their ownership of fear of being responsible for the daily solutions of the tourist business, which is rejected by the Safety Regulator in Nova Zealand.
Justice Moore said in a Friday decision that too close or widely interpreted the law managing who controls the workplace may have “deep” consequences.
Others face charges
White Island, the peak of an underwater volcano, also known as Maori Wakaari, was a popular tourist destination before the eruption and was reached by boat or helicopter from the abundance of the northern island. When the overheated steam blasted in December 2019, she killed a little immediately and left others with agonizing burns.
The workplace safety regulator has indicted a number of parties – including the company run by Andrew, Peter and James Bi.
Six organizations have pleaded guilty in 2022 and 2023 on the accusations they have encountered, including five tourist companies and the Institute for the Study of Geosia in New Zealand, which monitors active volcanoes.
The allegations were rejected against the Batt brothers individually, along with two tourist logistics companies and the Government Agency for Emergency Management.
In March, convicted were ordered to pay a total of just over $ 10 million New Zealand ($ 5.6 million) in restitution of families and survivors of the victims. Almost half of this was to be paid by Whakaari Management Limited.
The company filed its complaint the same month.
In his decision, justice Moore stated that he did not neglect or minimize the “indisputable tragedy” of the episode.
“The 47 people who were on Whakaari at the time when he exploded should never be there,” he writes. The fact that they were discovered “multiple system failures”.
However, the case was resolved by the specific law and facts and was reduced to relatively narrow legal issues, he added.